Harry Potter and Childish Things
by Type-00
Summary: Everyone dreams of having a pet monster, to protect you from bullies, to play with, and occasionally, inflict massive property damage and drive your enemies insane. Harry Potter just happens to be lucky enough to get one.
1. Chapter 1

Well, I'm back. Kinda. I'm not going to make promises on updates or anything, since I'm moving from college slacker to contributing member of society. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin my perfect incomplete record would I?

Well, there is that once fic that could be a standalone...

Anyways...

This is a cross over with the RPG _Monsters and Other Childish Things_ for those of you who don't know what that is, it's essentially what you would get if you crossed a children's show with a horror movie. Think Nightmare on Elm Street meets Barney, and then rapes Barney. There will be nightmare fuel galore in this fic, so no complaining about the horrors I inflict on your delicate psyche. You've been warned.

_**

* * *

HPaCT**_

Harry Potter and Childish Things

The Meeting

It all started with Dudley's birthday. As always, Dudley got a ton of presents, while Harry was forced out of the way, into his cupboard. However, this year, Dudley turned seven, which meant that he had outgrown "little kids stuff."

"Here." Dudley sneered, throwing something at Harry. "I'm too grown up for such a baby toy. Maybe this'll keep you from crying about your dead parents!"

Harry didn't respond, knowing it would only make things worse. Instead, he waited until Dudley shut the cupboard, and examined the closest thing he had to a real gift. It wasn't much to look at, a fairly ragged stuffed T-Rex, probably something bought from a gift shop years ago. Still, it was far better than anything else he had, so he placed it on the shelf, curled up, and went to sleep.

Things proceeded as normal, the only difference was that Harry had someone to talk to. Sure, Rex didn't talk back to him, but being able to voice his problems helped. This went on for a few weeks, before something unusual happened.

Rex talked back.

_**HPaCT**_

Harry stared.

_**"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT???"**_

"Well, I've never talked to a dinosaur before."

_**"I'VE NEVER TALKED TO A HUMAN BEFORE, SO I GUESS WE'RE EVEN."**_

"I suppose you're right..." Harry responded, too surprised to do anything else.

_**"CAN WE GO OUTSIDE??? IT'S BORING IN HERE."**_

"I don't know... it's pretty late..." Harry's childish mind allowing him to accept and adapt to this unexpected change.

_**"COME ON... IT'LL BE FUN..."**_ Rex wheedled.

"Alright..." Harry sighed, picking up the toy and sneaking out of the house.

_**HPaCT**_

"Okay, we're outside. Now what?"

_**"HANG ON A MINUTE. I NEED TO STRETCH."**_

"What do you mean stretch?" Harry asked, though his question was quickly answered.

Rex... for lack of a better word... changed. The ragged toy shifted, warped, and grew, it's bright yellow color darkening to a deep orange, accompanied by dark red stripes. His arms grew massive, taking on the proportions of a gorilla's. Bladed claws jutted out from his hands and feet, and his jaws grew to a massive size, and for a moment, harry thought he saw flames flicking inside his mouth. To complete to horrifying image, a massive, glowing red eye opened on Rex's head, gazing into the unspeakable nightmare beyond mortal comprehension.

There was only one appropriate response.

"Wicked."

This began a beautiful, if disturbing, friendship.

_**HPaCT**_

At first, Harry tried to hide Rex. He always kept him safely stored in his book bag, or hidden in the cupboard. However, Dudley seemed to have a second sense when it came to things important to Harry. It was only a few short weeks before Dudley noticed Harry's new favorite toy. And of course, anything Harry liked, Dudley liked to take away.

It was only a matter of time before Dudley gathered up his gang for another round of Harry-Hunting. As usual, they were relentless, and quickly herded Harry into an alley.

Sadly for them, that was just what Harry needed.

"How's it going Harry?" Dudley asked, his gang trying to look menacing behind him.

"You should leave me alone Dudley." Harry responded, displaying a previously unknown confidence.

"Oh? What are you going to do?" Dudley sneered, accompanied by the laughter of his minions.

"I'm not going to to anything." Harry replied. "He is."

It was then that the gang noticed the heavy breathing behind them. As one, they turned around slowly, their eyes widening as they beheld the monster.

His jaws widened into what only Harry recognized as a grin, an Rex let out of terrifying roar. The gang fled from the abomination, screaming. Only Dudley remained, to transfixed by terror to move. Rex's grin widened, and he leaned forward, and licked him. Dudley's eyes rolled back into his head, as he soiled himself, and blacked out.

Harry grinned, and calmly walked out of the alley, as Rex reverted to his benign shape and size. It was a good day.

_**HPaCT**_

After that encounter, Dudley and his friends left him alone, but Harry's reputation changed from Dudley's punching bag to creepy kid. That reputation worsened after Vernon learned of the encounter, and decided to express his displeasure.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR COUNSIN BOY!?!" Vernon shouted, his voice echoing through the house.

"I didn't do anything!" Harry yelled, "It was Rex!"

"YOU THINK I'LL BELEIVE THAT HORSE TRIPE!? I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!" Vernon screamed back, his veins bulging.

"I'm telling the truth!!!"

"SHUT UP BOY!!!" Vernon yelled, unbuckling his belt. "NO FOOD FOR A WEEK, BUT FIRST, YOU NEED A GOOD BEATING SO YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE!!"

That was the last straw. Of all the stupid things to do, threatening a monster's kid is at the top. Within seconds, Rex had resumed his true form, and was snarling at the now terrified Vernon. Struggling to avoid tearing the house apart with his size, Rex bent down, and looked at Vernon, meeting him eye to glowing red eye. Vernon began screaming, and didn't stop, he screamed until his throat went raw and coated with blood. He kept screaming, even when Petunia called the paramedics and he was taken away.

Surprisingly, the timing of the incident couldn't have been better. Grunnings had amazing health insurance, and Vernon had been involved in an important deal at the time. It was fairly obvious that the pressure had gotten to him, and Grunnings always looked out for its own. Despite the loss of their source of income, the Dursleys were now set for life, in honor to the dedicated employee whose mind was tragically crushed under the pressure.. Eventually, they moved the unresponsive Vernon from the hospital back home, where he spent hos days mindlessly staring at the television.

Petunia learned the lessons that Vernon and Dudley had failed to heed, and Harry was moved out of the cupboard, and into Dudley's second bedroom. Harry was treated, if not warmly, then at least cordially. Likewise, Dudley had no desire to repeat the encounter with Rex, and learned to avoid Harry as much as possible. While he retained one or two loyal gang members, the majority of them deserted him, in fear of drawing Harry's ire.

At this point, everyone avoided Harry as much as possible, but now, it no longer bothered him as much. Harry had Rex, and that was more than enough.

_**HPaCT

* * *

**_

Kind of a slow start, but this was mostly just setting the scene. Let me know what you think, and feel free to point out any spelling/continuity errors or pitch some suggestions. I'm not saying I'll make changes, but I'll at least read them.


	2. Chapter 2

Fairly fast update, but I already had most of this written. Don't exp3ct another update for at least a week. I've got finals and papers and service hours to do. This chapter is about four times longer than the first one, and I'm hoping to continue the trend of longer chapters.

Enjoy!

* * *

_**HPaCT**_

Being the creepy kid as school wasn't all that bad. He didn't have many friends, but that wasn't too different from when Dudley picked on him. Dudley generally avoided him, which was nice, and Aunt Petunia was nice, if a bit fearful. His teachers were a bit more friendly to him, especially the science teacher for some reason. Heck, since he got his brain melted, Uncle Vernon had lost twenty pounds!

All Harry really needed was Rex, though more often than not, Rex created trouble that was far worse than anything Harry had to deal with before. It took only a couple of days before Rex developed a taste for chasing Mrs. Figg's cats around the neighborhood. The fact that the Dursley's had laid off since Vernon's unfortunate breakdown made it managabl, if only barely. Harry was worried about what Rex would start doing once he got bored of just chasing the cats around. He didn't want to deal with a neighborhood papered in missing cat posters.

Despite everything, things were at least manageable, which meant that it was only a matter of time before Fate decided to intervene in Harry Potter's life.

It was about a month later, Harry's birthday had passed, and school had started again. As with any new school year, there were new challenges and opportunities to accompany it. In Harry's case, there was one in particular.

_**"HEY HARRY."**_

"Hm? What is it Rex?" Harry asked, pulling his gaze away from the window.

_**"I DUNNO... SOMETHING JUST FEELS...DIFFERENT. OR THE SAME. I CAN'T DECIDE."**_

"That doesn't make any sense."

_**"WELL IT'S THE TRUTH."**_

"Class, I'd like you to meet our new student." the teacher spoke up, drawing Harry;'s attention away from his talk with Rex.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Annabel."

"Hi."

"Now I expect you all to be nice to her, since she's new, alright kids?" The teacher smiled, "Why don't you take a seat right over there deary?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Aside from the addition of a new student, things proceeded normally. The only real difference was Rex's attitude. For some reason, he was acting....twitchy. Something was bothering him, and he constant mutterings were beginning to get on Harry's nerves.

"Maybe you should go outside for awhile." Harry said, discreetly pushing Rex out the window.

_**"BUT HARRY...."**_ Rex whined

"Just...go run around for awhile."

_**"FINE..."**_

_**HPaCT**_

Things were relatively quiet until recess. Dudley, sensing a chance to reassert his place as the alpha, decided to harass the new girl.

"-URK!" from out of nowhere, Annabel pulled out a baseball bat, and clocked Dudley in the jaw. He staggered around for a minute, before she elected to give it another shot and knocked him out cold. Clearly, Annabel was not one to be messed with, and not in the way Dudley's creepy cousin was. If you made her mad, she would wail on you until you went down, or someone got a teacher.

Almost immediately, several of Dudley's old friends surrounded her, sucking up to the new queen of the playground. Harry sighed. Hopefully she wouldn't bother him like Dudley used to, but that was probably too much to hope for.

_**HPaCT**_

Much to Harry's chagrin, the new girl quickly became the least of his worries.

Math class was as dull as ever, and though he did his best to pay attention, he found hi attention drifting outside more often than not. It was during one of these drifting moments that Harry noticed what Rex was up to.

Unlike his usual shenanigans, Rex wasn't tasting the various pieces of playground equipment or chasing animals. This time, Rex was fighting.

Immediately, Harry put his hand in the air, "Can I go to the bathroom?" The teacher was so involved in explaining the concept of long division, that she didn't notice Harry's question. Deciding that there wasn't any time to waste, Harry got up and quietly walked out of the classroom, before breaking into a sprint.

By the time he made it outside, the fight was in full swing, as the accumilationg property damage would attest. Now that Harry was there, he wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, he was saved from that problem as a second person showed up.

"HOMER, STOP!!!" Harry turned in shock to see Annabel screaming at the brawling monsters, looking more irritated than anything else. Sadly, there was very little that could stop a monster fight once it got going. Even a very irate little girl wasn't enough.

The new monster, name Homer apparently, hefted Rex above its head, before hurling him into the school. Given Rex's considerable size, it was no surprise when he crashed through the wall, landing in Mr. Henderson's lab area.

Heedless of the protesting children, Homer pressed his advantage and tackled the stunned dinosaur, crushing several desks and chairs, and shattering dozens of vials. Rex responded with a blast of flames, igniting the newly created firewood, and creating a veritable haze of toxic gases. Masked by the poisonous smoke, Rex charged Homer, plowing into the collection of baseball equipment and forcing the fight back into the playground.

"Damn it Homer..." Annabel cursed, watching the havoc the ongoing brawl was causing. "Hey, you."

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Do you see some other nimrod around? Help me get their attention." Annabel commanded.

"Er... alright, but how are we going to do that?"

"Here," she replied, handing him a baseball. "On the count of three, throw it at them as hard as you can."

"Um... is that really going to work?"

"It worked last time, but Homer was chasing the neighborhood dog, not fighting a dinosaur. Ready?"

"Well..."

"One! Two!!! THREE!!!" at Annabel's command, the two children hurled the balls at the warring beasts. Despite all logic to the contrary, they actually did, acting like dogs that had been yelled at more than eldritch horrors from beyond.

_**"BUT ANNIE... HE MADE FUN OF ME..."**_ Homer defended, earning an incredulous look.

**_"YOU... YOU CALLED ME A PREHISTORIC CHICKEN!!!"_** Rex roared, flames flickering in his jaws.

_**"YOU SAID BASEBALL WASN"T A REAL SPORT!!!"**_ Homer shouted, gearing up to fight again.

**_"WELL YOU-"_**

"Both of you! Shut up!!!" Annabel screamed, stopping the whining once and for all. Sighing in exasperation, she turned to face the relatively quiet Harry.

"Let's start this whole thing over again. Hi. My name is Annabel, but you can call me Annie. This is my monster, Homer."

"Uh... I'm Harry, and this is my monster Rex."

The two monsters merely growled at each other, before a glare from their partners put them on their best behavior.

The creepy kid and the weird new girl. Clearly a match made in heaven.

_**HPaCT**_

The school was closed for the next week, while the local authorities cleaned up after the "lab explosion" and made sure that the building didn't suffer from any major structural damage. This worked out well for Harry and Annie, since it gave them a chance to get to know each other.

It turned out that Annie had had Homer for months, and his general disregard for property damage had led to repeated moves. Fortunately, she loudly proclaimed, she had finally got him trained, and as long as Rex was on his best behavior, there wouldn't be any problems. While this led to a lot of mumbled complaints from Rex, Harry was perfectly happy with that condition, as long as he had a friend.

Well, he always had Rex, but that went without saying.

By the time the week was over, the newly formed duo were fast friends. While Rex and Homer still didn't quite see eye to eye, they had learned to be tolerant of each other enough to not maim each other when Harry or Annie was around. Had the mayor known, he would have been extremely grateful of Annabel's bat for keeping the two of them in line.

Annabel had quickly asserted his position as the leader of their little group, which suited Harry just fine. Rex had made several growling complaints about being bossed around by a little girl, but soon stopped, as Annabel wasn't one to tolerate dissent, and bashed him in his vulnerable eye. He spent the next two days whimpering under Harry's bed. Once he recovered, he was much less vocal about the power structure.

School went was well as could be expected. Several teachers were a bit nervous, but overall, things went smoothly. On the plus side, since everyone was half expecting another explosion, no one assigned any homework. The reason for the expectation of explosion became all to clear when science class came around.

"Hey kids!" Mr. Henderson exclaimed, far more animated then any of them had every seen him. "Now the main lab has been closed down for repairs, but there are plenty of replacement chemicals so we'll have plenty available for our... experiments... Yes, plenty for experiments.... my experiments will show them... they'll show them all... yes... Soon they'll all see the truth... no one will be able to call me crazy after I show them...

"Uh... Mr. Henderson, are you sure that the lab is...safe now? One of the students asked,

"Why of course it's safe!!! The CDC came in and double and triple checked EVERYTHING! And I've got a plan to make things EXTRA safe so an explosion like that will NEVER happen again!!! Isn't that right kids!?!" He exclaimed, paying special attention to the newly formed duo.

"Uh... yes sir..." Harry quailed under the science teacher's grinning facade.

**_"WANT ME TO EAT HIS FACE?"_**

"No you idiot. That'll just get Harry in trouble." Annabel admonished the stuffed dinosaur, accompanied by sniggers from Homer, who had compressed himself into a single baseball.

**_"SHUT UP HOMER..."_**

_**"NO, YOU SHUT UP."**_

"Will you both shut up?! You'll get us in trouble!!!" Harry whispered urgently. It turned out that his worries were for naught, as Mr. Henderson elected to put a movie open while he took care of some things in his office. The movie of choice?

Frankenstein.

Despite the high volume setting, it was impossible for the movie to drown out the sounds of Mr. Henderson at work. Sounds of grating metal, electric currents, and maniacal laughter (synchronized with the movie, somehow) emitted from the office sporadically, accompanied by rants of Mr. Henderson's genius. The end of class couldn't come soon enough.

_**HPaCT**_

After the unusual science class, everyone was ready for the end of the day. Once the last bell rang, Annie all but dragged him to the park. Due to her borderline obsession with baseball, at least some of which was probably Homer's fault, Harry found himself drafted into playing almost every day. She hadn't to conscripting more players, so they were currently limited to batting practice or catch, but that suited Annie just fine.

Ever since Annie came along, the park had become much nicer. It used to be Dudley's main hangout, but ever since Annabel put him in his place, kids started frequenting the park without worrying about Dudley or his cronies.

"Hay Harry,"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do tonight?"

"How about the junkyard?"

"Why would we go to the junkyard?"

Annabel grinned, "If you have to ask, then we definitely need to go there. Tonight's gonna be fun."

_**HPaCT**_

The junkyard, much to Harry's surprise, made for an amazing playground for child and monster alike. There were piles of junk just waiting for for Annabel and Harry to rummage through, and Homer and Rex could rough house as much as they wanted without drawing any unwanted attention. They spent the night collecting odds and ends, and sculpting statues of discarded cans and bubblegum. The night culminated in a car throwing contest, as each monster sought to out do the other. It devolved into shouting match, followed shorty after by a quick brawl, before Annabel stopped them.

All in all, a pretty fun night.

**_"I'M GONNA GO FIND A SNACK, ALRIGHT ANNIE?"_** Homer said as they headed home.

"Oh... alright, but hurry up, and don't break into any stores, alright?" Annabel admonished, hopping off of him to walk next to Harry.

**_"FINE...I'LL GO FIND SOMETHING. MAYBE SOMEONE LEFT A BALL OUT OR SOMETHING..." _**Homer complained, lumbering off to find a snack.

"Don't eat anyone!" Annabel called after him, "See you tomorrow Harry." she commented, heading towards her own home.

"Bye." Harry returned, "Come on Rex. We've got school tomorrow."

_**"AW..."**_

_**HPaCT**_

The next day, things weren't nearly as smooth. Almost immediately, Harry was confronted by an agitated Annabel.

"Have you seen Homer? He didn't come home last night." she all but demanded.

"No, the last time I saw him we were just leaving. Sorry Annie."

Annabel sighed in frustration , "He doesn't normally wander off like this... Sure, he likes to grab a snack, but he's always back soon..."

"Well, we have class now, so there's not much we can do, but I'll help you look after class, alright?"

"Thanks Harry." her worries momentarily calmed, Annabel settled down and they headed to class.

_**HPaCT**_

Sadly, Homer was nowhere to be found. The cycle repeated itself. By the third day, Annabel had stopped showing up to class entirely. Harry was solely tempted to join her, but given her borderline psychotic mood swings, he decided that some time away would do some good.

Another reason was to watch Mr. Henderson's continued descent into madness. Gone was the nice, clean organized lab, replaced by minor chemical spills, dissected lab equipment, and strange smells. By this point, even the daily science/horror movie was gone, since Mr. Henderson had taken the projector apart for his project. Most of the students had taken to cutting class and leaving early, since Mr. Henderson wasn't even around. Harry elected to use that time to help Annabel look for Homer, but their searches remained fruitless.

Things finally changed when Mr. Henderson showed up again. His clothes were rumpled, and judging from their stench, he hadn't showered in days. Likewise, he was sporting an impressive stubble, which complimented his greasy and tangled hair nicely. For some reason, he had thrown on a white labcoat, which clashed with the rest of him in its pristine whiteness.

"Hello everyone!!! Now before I pop in the movie, do we have any baseball players in this class?" Mr. Henderson demanded, grinning widely.

"Um... what does that have to do with anything sir?"

"Oh nothing, I just need some baseball equipment for some base reading. My new... project... has some baseball like traits. I need the equipment for comparison."

"Are you designing some new type of baseball bat or something?" the studnt asked

"Of course not! I wouldn't lower myself to working on such a stupid sport as-" Mr. Henderson cut himself off, and forced his malevolent expression under control, "I mean... of course its for something like that. We all want our... Pirates to do well."

"Our baseball team is the Dingoes."

"Whatever. Just take me to the baseball equipment."

"Yes sir..."

The conversation on its own was suspicious. With Homer missing and Mr,. Henderson acting the way it was, it was obvious that he was somehow involved. The instant Mr. Henderson left the room, Harry bolted, in search of Annabel.

_**HPaCT**_

"You found Homer?!" Annabel yelled, shaking the unfortunate messenger frantically.

"Maybe!" Harry replied, prompting her to glare at him expectantly.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Mr. Henderson showed up again today asking for baseball equipment. He said it had something to do with a new project or something." Harry explained, "Since Mr. Henderson's been gone almost as long as Home I thought they might be connected."

"Well what are we waiting for?! Move it!!!"

_**HPaCT**_

Mr. Henderson's house used to be nice. It wasn't exceptional, but it blended well with the rest of the neighborhood.

No longer.

Apparently, Mr. Henderson's drive was so strong, he had scavenged parts from his own house, destroying the veneer of normality, as well as compromising the structural integrity. Parts that he couldn't use were scattered over the lawn, which was starting to look overgrown. While nowhere near hunted house levels, it was certainly creepy.

As the two children approached the desolate building, they suppressed a shudder.

"Alright, I'll look upstairs. Harry, you check the ground floor. If you find anything, send Rex to get me." Annabel ordered.

"Wait, what if you find something." Harry asked.

"Follow the screams. Once I hit someone with this," Annabel replied, swinging her bat experimentally, "There will be plenty of noise to follow."

"Alright..." Harry replied uncertainly, following her into the house.

_**"LET'S DO THIS."**_ Rex snarled, shifting into his true form.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now Rex. You'll probably break the house."

**_"FINE..."_** Rex replied, shrinking down into his stuffed toy body. Harry sighed, before following Annabel in.

Once inside, Harry began to cautiously explore each room. Most were similar to the front yard in regards to condition. Bits and pieces of junk were scattered everywhere, the kitchen sink and garbage can were filled to the brim with dirty dishes and take out boxes, and anything technological was ripped apart.

As he continued his explorations, Harry heard the sound of something coming from below. A few seconds of listening identified it as Mr. Henderson's mad laughter. Look around, Harry quickly located the door leading to the basement, and braced himself. A week's worth of monster movies told him that whatever was downstair was going to be disturbing.

Sadly, cheesy movie gore was nothing like the real thing.

Mr. Henderson had Homer strapped down on a table, cackling madly to himself. He completely ignored Homer's growls of anger, aside from the occasional threat to remove his vocal cords. Homer's hands were completely absent, and Mr. Henderson was busy working on the rest of his arms, taking care to place each baseball in a separate jar for later experimentation. Black ichor oozed from the ends of Homer's hands, which Mr. Henderson took great care to contain.

"Rex, got get Annie. Now!" Harry hissed, unable to tear his eyes away.

_**"I'M GONNA RIP OFF YOUR FACE AND EAT IT AS SOON AS I'M FREE!!!"**_ Homer declared, fighting against his bonds.

"My, you're full of fighting spirit, don't you agree Gigatron?" Mr Henderson cackled, glancing over his shoulder.

"Beep." Harry's eyes widened as he noticed the hulking wall of machinery wasn't just another bank of computers and electronics, but a massive robot. The robot, apparently Gigatron, moved away from the wall to help Mr. Henderson. Harry watched in horror as it raised a buzzsaw, coated in the same ichor coming from Homer. The bladed circle began to spin ominously and Homer howled in rage as it began to approach his mask.

"HOMER!!!" Annabel shrieked, jolting Harry away from the scene to look upon a horrified Annabel. She immediately sprinted forward, forcing Harry grab her, to keep her from rushing headlong into the realm of madness. Unfortunately, holding her back didn't keep Mr. Henderson from hearing her.

"WHO'S THERE!?! WHO DARES INTRUDE INTO THE LAIR OF MICHAEL HENDERSON!?!"

"LET GO OF HOMER!!!" Annabel returned, almost frothing at the mouth.

"Homer... ah, so that's the name of this subject... I think I'll label it Subject H..."

_**"INTERESTING... I THINK I'LL LABEL YOU... LUNCH."**_ Rex snarled, assuming his full malevolent form.

"Ah! A second subject! Gigatron! Forget that one, help me capture this new specimen!!!" Mr. Henderson commanded, his focus diverted to the idea of new experimnts.

As Mr. Henderson turned his attention away from the bound Homer, Harry released Annabel, who dropped her favorite bat in order to help, or at least comfort Homer.

Harry picked up Annabel's bat, as the insane scientist charged towards Rex. Fortunately, since the scientist was so focused on the new monster, he didn't pay any attention to the small child next to it, giving Harry an easy shot at his kneecaps, which he took with gusto.

As Mr. Henderson fell shrieking to the ground, Rex charged at the approaching robot, his jaws biting down on its head, sending a shower of sparks all over the room. The robot responded by attempting to tear into the prehistoric beast, but was unable to pierce his tough hide.

"So these monsters are your partners, eh?" Mr. Henderson hissed, pulling a scalpel from his jacket. "I think some experiments on the two of you will be necessary as well!" he yelled, lunging towards Harry. Harry dodged out of his way, prompting a bout of hysterical cackling.

"Oh, is the little boy afraid of a little surgery?! Don't worry Harry, it only hurts for the first few hours!" Henderson laughed, scalpel slashing at his student. Harry managed to avoid his attack, and responded by taking a swing at his vulnerable stomach. Unfortunately, the attack presented Henderson with an opening, which he took full advantage of to slice into Harry's thigh. Harry's scream mimicked Rex's roar, as Gigatron fried his arms. Rex repaid the favor by biting into his head once again.

The brawl was momentarily disrupted by Annabel's shout of triumph, as the restraints on Homer released, and the infuriated monster joined the fight against the unlucky robot. Even without his arms, a second monster made the fight far more formidable. Annabel, likewise hungry for revenge, joined Harry against Henderson. Wordlessly, Harry passed her the bat, picking up a pipe to use instead.

With an ally beside him, Rex, tore into the robot with gusto. Unfortunately, Henderson was far from incompetent, and Gigatron proved quite resistant to their attacks. Sadly for the science teacher, he was not so resistant to attacks as Harry and Annabel attacked his legs again. One lucky blow to the kneecaps later caused their teacher to shriek as he fell to his knees, agonizing pain forcing him to drop his scalpel, giving them an opportunity to attack with impunity, resulting in a sickening crack as Annabel smashed his hands.

His screams provided the monsters with the motivation to renew their dismantling of Gigatron, which they continued with gusto. Rex finally managed to tear off the robot's head, which he gleefully muched on in victory. Not wanting to be outdone, Homer body slammed it into the wall, causing part of its chest to collapse. With the loss of its head, and damage to its circuits, Gigatron was severely hindered, making its destruction only a matter of time.

Harry backed off, as Annabel's rage took hold of her and she began to brutally beat their teacher. Deprived of his weapon, Henderson was almost helpless against her unrelenting assault. He screamed as Annabel destroyed what remained of his hands, his blood changing her bat from silver to a dark red. As he collapsed to his knees Annabel smirked psychotically before muttering under her breath

"Swing for the bleachers."

Being a young girl, Annabel lacked the strength to pulverize Mr. Henderson's skull, and paint the wall with his brain and bone fragments. However, she was more than powerful enough to knock him unconscious, and probably give him some form of brain damage.

Panting heavily, Annabel did her best to regain control as the monsters finished their dismantling. As the last of Gigatron's parts were rent asunder, she locked eyes with her friend and partner. They stared at each other for a long moment, before Annabel's eyes began to well up.

"HOMER!!!" Annabel sobbed, rushing to wrap her arms around her monstrosity. "I was so scared! I was so scared that you were gone!"

Homer floundered, unable to think of how to deal with an emotionally distraught girl. He looked helplessly at his tow companions, silently asking for advice.

**_"SO...DO WE EAT HIM?"_** Rex clearly wasn't the best source of advice on this subject.

"How about we get out of here? " Harry's advice was equally useless in this regard, but it was much better than devouring their disturbed teacher. Annabel nodded her head in agreement, still sobbing against Homer.

_**HPaCT**_

The next few days were far more normal. Annabel didn't let Homer out of her sight, but calmed down significantly. There were several looting sprees on the school gym and sports stores to get Homer the materials he needed to grow back his arms, but compared to dealing with Mr. Henderson, it was almost relaxing.

Speaking of Mr. Henderson, when he didn't show up the next day, they sent someone to check on him. It was obvious to all that he was suffering from some sort of trauma, probably from the recent lab explosion. Given his mad gibbering and the damage to his home, he had probably blown himself up while testing his "Gigatron" robot. Since said robot was scattered all over the basement, it had probably exploded. Fortunately, there was a nearby facility for the insane that had opened up just recently, so Mr. Henderson could spend his days in a nice safe environment where nothing bad would ever happen to him again.

On Tuesdays, they even gave him blue jello!

The replacement science teacher, Ms. Blake, was far less psychotic, if a bit stricter. She was much prettier too, which caused some minor conflict between Harry and Annabel. One short scuffle later, and the problem was resolved.

After the events of the first month of school, the remainder of the year was fairly calm. At least, until Harry's birthday.

* * *

I think this chapter turned out fairly well, but I'm a bit worried about a couple of parts. Let me know if there's any parts that look like they need fine tuning.


	3. Chapter 3

Another weekend, another chapter. I'm not sure if I like how this one turned out, so I might come back and work on it more, but there won't be any major changes from the overall flow

Apologies for any errors. I looked it over a couple of times, but I may have missed a few things.

* * *

**HPaCT**

Harry was surprised to see his aunt crying. Sure, after Vernon got his brain melted, there wasn't a day when she didn't break down crying, usually around mealtimes, but this was different. She seemed.... happy?

"Harry!" she exclaimed, "You.... you have some mail!" She all but shouted, forcing it into his hands. Harry stared at her, surprised at how eager she was to give it to him. "Well don't just sit there! Open it already! "

Still staring at her, Harry slowly opened the letter, and began to read.

Dear Mr. Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted  
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please  
find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no  
later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely.

Minerva McGonagall,  
Deputy Headmistress

Harry didn't respond, instead turning and walking out of the house, leaving Petunia even more distraught.

_**HPaCT**_

"So, what do you think Rex? Do you think that it's a joke?"

**_"I DON'T KNOW... ISN'T MAGIC THAT THING THAT MAGICIANS AT PARTIES DO?"_**

"Yeah, so why would they have a whole school for it? I always thought it was a hobby."

_**"STILL... THAT PAPER LOOKS WEIRD..."**_

"Weird like when Annabel came?"

_**"NO...A DIFFERENT KIND OF WEIRD...WHY DON'T YOU LOOK FOR YOURSELF?"**_

"How can I do that?" Harry asked, "I already looked at it and it looks like any other piece of paper to-" Harry stopped, as something... changed.

"Whoa." Harry muttered, as the color of the world faded away. As he looked around, he noticed that instead of the black and white of the world, Harry was radiating light, like the plutonium they saw in science class. Unlike the plutonium's sickly green, Harry glowed a brilliant green. As he stared in wonder, he noticed that there were threads of various colors attached to him. Several dark red threads led back towards his house, and a big, black rope moved from his heart to Rex, who was cloaked in complete blackness. There were several other yellow threads as well, but he didn't see what they connected to, and they were much thinner, almost as if they were being stretched. He looked at the letter, and saw that it was glowing like him, but it was much fainter, and was a pale white.

Suddenly, everything snapped back to normal. Harry grabbed his head as the sudden assault of colors hit him. After a few moments, the ache faded, and he opened his eyes.

"Do you always see like that?" he asked looking at Rex.

_**"OF COURSE. HOW ELSE WOULD I SEE?"**_

"I don't know. Like I see?"

_**"DO I LOOK LIKE YOU?"**_

"I guess that makes sense."

_**"SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE LETTER?"**_

"Well, it certainly looked different. Maybe it's for real, but I don't have an owl... who uses an owl instead of the post office?"

_**"WIZARDS I GUESS."**_

"I guess that makes sense, but it's still weird. Now how are we going to find one?"

_**"LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE IT."**_

"Alright." Harry responded, before flinching as his vision abruptly switched again.

_**"WHERE DO YOU WANT TO START?"**_

"How about the house? Some of the threads seem to lead towards it."

_**"SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO ME."**_

_**HPaCT**_

Harry's home didn't have anything of use. While the entire thing was saturated with red, there wasn't anything like an owl, and when Harry asked petunia, who was glowing a fair pink, she shrieked and ran upstairs, locking the door behind her.

Sighing, the duo departed, looking for something helpful.

Fortunately, their next target was right next door. Mrs. Figg's house, which not as bright as his own, was still covered in a faded gold. Harry knocked on the door, and waited expectantly.

"Yes what is it?" Mrs. Figg asked as the door opened, "Oh, Harry, what can I do for you? Does your aunt need me to watch you?"

"No, but do you know where I can find an owl?" Harry replied.

"An owl? Why would you need that?"

"I just got a letter, and they want me to use an owl to reply." Harry answered, looking down out of embarrassment.

Mrs. Figg's eyes lit up, "Ah, you got your Hogwarts letter. I didn't realize that it was that time of year again! Come on in Harry, let's see if I can wake old Archibald up."

Dumbfounded, Harry followed her into the house, and almost fell over in shock.

Half of her things were glowing.

Harry carefully navigated his way through house, staring in awe at the myriad of colors. The number of colors was staggering, and they seemed to weave together, creating a pattern of such brilliance and complexity that it quickly began to make his eyes hurt. Harry shut his eyes, willing his vision to go back to normal. He felt something change, and sighed in relief when everything was back to normal. During this time, Mrs. Figg had dug up Archibald, who was screeching loudly at the cats she quickly shooed the cats out of the way, before settling on the couch next to Harry.

"Now Harry, are you ready to send your acceptance letter?"

Harry stared at her, dumbfounded, "What?"

"Your letter. Aren't you going to go to Hogwarts?" she pressed.

"I... I don't know." Harry responded honestly.

"You.. don't know?" Mrs. Figg asked accusingly.

"I'm sorry! I thought the letter was a joke!" Harry defended.

Almost immediately, the expression of disbelief melted to understanding. "I'm sorry Harry. I forgot who raised you. You aunt was always terrified of magic, so it shouldn't be a surprise that you didn't know."

Harry nodded, still trying to process the series of events that had led up to this point.

"Here." Mrs. Figg continued, jotting something down. "Have your aunt drive you to London and go visit the Leaky Cauldron at this address. Tell the man behind the counter that you want to go to Diagon Alley, and you can go look for yourself."

"My aunt?"

"Well, you should ask her, and when she says no, come back over here and I'll take you there myself." Mrs. Figg responded. "Just stop in any time and we'll go, does that sound alright deary?"

Harry simply nodded, and allowed her to usher him out of the house.

_**HPaCT**_

_**"THAT WAS... WEIRD."**_ Rex stated, as they began to wander aimlessly through the streets.

"You can say that again." Harry replied.

**_"THAT WAS..."_**

"You don't actually have to say it."

_**"SORRY."**_

"It's alright, it's just... really, really weird. DO you think I should tell Annie?"

**_"IF YOU DON'T, SHE'LL PROBABLY HIT YOU."_**

"That's true." Harry agreed, abruptly changing course towards Annabel's house.

_**"THEN AGAIN, SHE MIGHT HIT YOU ANYWAYS."**_

_**HPaCT**_

Annabel's reaction was similar to Harry's as she thought the whole thing was an elaborate joke.

"Who every heard of a magic school? The last time I saw a magician, he was crying because the rabbit didn't come out of the hat!"

"I think he was crying because you were making fun of him."

"It doesn't matter why he was crying!" Annabel blushed, "it was still pathetic!"

_**"COME ON, IS MAGIC REALLY THAT HARD TO BELIEVE?"**_ Homer asked.

"Well, I suppose not, after all, we've got you guys here, and you're way weirder than magic."

_**"HEY!"**_

"Still, if she gave you a place to go and see, we might as well check it out." Annabel continued, ignoring the outburst of the monsters.

"Yeah... wait, we?" Harry asked in confusion.

She smirked at him, "Did you really think I wouldn't go along too? Come on, I bet my mom can drive us!"

_**HPaCT**_

Convincing Annabel's mom was somewhat difficult, but after years of living with her, Annabel knew exactly what buttons to push. While she refused to take them, once Annabel mentioned the sales in London, she was putty in her hand.

The next day, the duo was dropped off in front of a movie theater, with enough money to see a couple of movies and get snacks, while Annabel's mom drove off in a furious rush to track down the clothing store offering a 75% off going out of business sale. Back home, Annabel's' dad felt the inexplicable urge to weep.

As soon as the car was out of sight, Annie all but dragged Harry towards the address he supplied. It took them nearly twenty minutes to walk there, and when they got there, they were severely disappointed.

"It's just a bar!" Annabel exclaimed, "I can't believe she sent us to a bar!"

"Calm down Annie." Harry placated, but she would have none of that.

"You can't hide an alley in a bar! It's ridiculous! Mrs. Figg probably wrote the letter as a joke!"

"Why would she do that?" Harry asked.

"Because she's OLD!" Annabel exploded, "That's what old people do! They hate children., and spend their miserable lives trying to ruin ours! She knew that they won't let kids into a bar, and probably expects us to get in trouble and spend the day at the police station!"

"Come on Annie. Mrs. Figg wouldn't do that." Harry replied.

"Wouldn't she?"

"No, she wouldn't"

"Well fine then! Let's just walk on in and see what happens then! Come on Harry!" Harry sighed, and just let her drag him along behind her. There was very little that could stop Annabel once she set her mind on something, and by now, Harry had learned not to try.

Within seconds, they were standing in from of the bartender, who was looking at them with amusement.

"Can I help you miss?"

"Tell me where Diagon Alley is." Annabel commanded.

"Sure, right this way."

"See Harry? I told you-" Annabel began, before realizing what he had said, "Wait, really?"

"Of course. I'm guessing that your parents went on ahead. It happens all the time." he chuckled.

Wordlessly, the two children followed him through the back, and watched as he touched the bricks in a specific sequence. They watched in awe as the bricks rearranged themselves, revealing a collection of shops and dozens of strangely dressed people.

"Now off you go. Your parents are probably starting to worry." the bartender said, giving them a bit of a push. Still silent, the two cautiously began their first venture into the magical world.

_**HPaCT**_

"So... where should we go first?" Annabel asked, still trying to process the revelation of magic.

"I don't know..." Harry answered, in a similar state to

_**"HEY LOOK, A SNACK SHOP!"**_ Rex exclaimed.

"That's not a snack shop, it's a pet store!" Annabel admonished the stuffed plushy,

**_"AREN'T THOSE THE SAME THING?"_**

"No!"

"Hey, wait a minute, they have owls in there." Harry noted, interrupting his friends.

"So?"

**_"ARE OWLS TASTY?"_**

"If I have my own owl, then I don't need to borrow one from Mrs. Figg."

"You're going to buy one of them?" Annabel asked in disbelief.

"Sure, I'll probably need one anyways, so I might as well buy it now. In fact, I should probably get all the stuff on the list too."

"Fine... let's just get this over with." was her response, and they entered the store.

_**HPaCT**_

"Welcome to my humble store. Now what can I get for you two youngsters?" the shopkeeper greeted them warmly.

"My friend wants to buy an owl." Annabel gestures towards Harry, who was already looking at the vast collection with unrestrained curiosity.

"Certainly. That will be eight Galleons, Seven sickles."

"Um... is this enough?" Annabel asked, holding out a fifty pound note.

"Ah, muggleborn. You'll need to go to Gringotts to exchange that for wizarding currency. We don't have much use for your...paper."

Annabel sighed in exasperation, "Can't anything be easy?"

_**HPaCT**_

The bank, much like the rest of the wizarding world, was unusual. Rather than security cameras and ATM's, there were armed guards and goblins.

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Irontooth. Can I help you?" The clerk sneered at them, clearly wanting to get this over with.

"We need to change some money." Annabel replied.

"Of course you do." he responded, rolling his eyes, "Your names?"

"I'm Annabel Jones, and this is Harry Potter."

"Harry... Potter you say?"

"Yes, that's me." Harry replied quietly.

"It seems that wizards are getting more idiotic each year."

"Excuse me?"

"Mr. Potter, you already have an account here at Gringotts, and have no need to exchange Muggle money."

"Really?"

The goblin let out a long suffering sigh, "Yes Mr. Potter. I assume you don't have your key?"

"What key?"

"Never mind. If you'll just follow me..." the goblin gestured, and the two children followed him into the depths of Gringotts Bank.

_**HPaCT**_

"Replacing your key is a simple matter Mr. Potter. All we need is a sample of your blood."

"My... blood?" Harry asked, glancing at the large dagger the goblin had.

"Did you expect us to just give you a replacement? We need to verify that you are indeed Harry Potter before giving you access to the vault."

"Well... alright..." Harry assented. Immediately, the goblin grabbed him, and deftly slashed him across his palm. Ignoring the accompanying cry of pain, the goblin deftly carried the dagger over to a crucible, where he watched in interest as Harry's blood filled it up. Within moments, it began to boil, and smoke poured out of it. After several minutes, the smoke died down, and Irontooth reached inside, pulling out a gleaming new key.

Looking closely, Harry could see a ghostly image of the key surrounding it, but it dissolved

"As this is the first time this has happened, we will not charge you the standard key replacement fee. Make sure it does not happen again."

"Yes sir."

"Now follow me. I'll take you to your vault."

_**HPaCT**_

"FASTER! FASTER!"

While Irontooth might be rude, it was clear that karma was compensating for it, as well as the sadistic pleasure most goblins took from the discomfort the carts caused most wizards, as the loud screams of both children filled the air, and gave him a massive headache.

"Wow! Did you see that!"

"Was that a dragon!"

Irontooth sighed in relief as the cart slowed, finally ending his torment.

"Your vault, Mr. Potter." Irontooth sneered, motioning towards the massive door. Uncertainly, Harry moved forward, and inserted his key.

While the Potters were by no means rich, at least according to wizarding standards, there was still a lot of money, especially for a pair of children. They didn't notice the vault door close behind them, and it was several minutes before they stopped staring, and started gathering up as much as they could carry. Rex, having significantly less self control, chose to roll around in the piles of gold.

_**HPaCT**_

Their business at the bank concluded, and laden with magical currency, the pair headed back to the pet store. Harry spent several minutes browsing their selection, while Annabel waited at the front.

"Here." Harry said, handing Annabel a cage.

"What is this?"

"It's an owl."

"An owl."

"Right."

"Why would you get me an owl?"

"Well... because."

"Because what?"

"Well, if I'm at Hogwarts, then I won't be able to see you, and they probably don't have mailboxes. So... I figured... you could use the owl to write me letters."

"You want me to write you letters?"

"I'll write to you too!"

"Well, alright. If it's that important to you...**_"_**

**_"CAN I HAVE A PET TOO?"_** Rex asked.

"No." Harry told him.

_**"WHY NOT?"**_

"Because you'll just eat it."

_**"BUT THEY LOOK SO DELICIOUS..."**_

"I said no!" Harry admonished, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Sometimes I wish that Rex was like Homer. At least he knows to be quiet."

"Are you kidding me? Homer loves to talk. I'm surprised he hasn't said anything since we got here." Annabel replied, laughing.

"...Where IS Homer?"

"He's right... uh oh." The duo rapidly paled as Annabel opened her bag, only to find it empty. Homer had wandered off.

Harry sighed. In all likelihood, Homer was fine, but after the incident with Mr. Henderson, she was a bit... overprotective. In three...two...one...

"Where could he be?" Annabel fretted, looking around frantically. "The only times he wanders off is when he's looking for food, and they don't have any sports stores here! All they sell are eyeballs, wart cream, and those stupid owls!"

"Calm down, I'm sure he just went for a look around."

"The last time he went for a look around, he got CAPTURED BY A MAD SCIENCE TEACHER!" Annabel screamed, almost choking Harry in her distress.

"W- we'll find him! Don't worry Annie!" Harry stammered, "Rex! Help!"

_**"HOMER WENT TO TASTE THEIR SPORTS EQUIPMENT."**_

"WIZARDS DON'T HAVE SPORTS!"

**_"THEY DO SO! IT'S CALLED... SQUID WITCH OR... RIB DITCH OR SOMETHING. THERE'S A WHOLE STORE RIGHT OVER THERE."_**

Annabel' had whipped towards the indicated store, and all but dragged Harry and Rex behind her. Fortunately, Homer was still in there. Unfortunately, he had already eaten most of their stock, and his presence had terrified the store owner into unconsciousness.

"Homer! Don't wander off like that! Do you want to end up a some experiment in a basement again?"

_**"NO..."**_

"Then don't wander off!"

_**"BUT I WAS HUNGRY..."**_

"Next time you're hungry, let me know and I'll take you to get something to eat! Now promise you won't wander off again!"

**_"BUT ANNIE..."_**

"Promise!"

Homer mutter something under his breath, that might have contained words along those lines, and Annabel took what she could get.

"We'd better sneak out the back before someone else shows up." Harry spoke up, glancing outside warily.

"Alright. Let's move." was Annabel's response, as they quietly walked away from the scene of Homer's latest feast, "Now what else do you need to get for school?"

"Let me see..." Harry glanced at the list, as they entered the Alley, "I need to buy a hat, some robes, some gloves, a cloak, some books, a wand, a cauldron, some bottles, a telescope, and some scales."

"Seriously?"

"Looks like it."

"Fine... now where do we get these things?"

_**HPaCT**_

After several hours, the shopping was all complete. While the list of supplies was fairly easy to gather, they were a pair of children, laden with gold, exploring the magical world for the first time. The pet store was merely the first of many side quests. They visited nearly every store in the alley, and bought something from each one. The were lucky that one of their first finds was a magic chest, which was large enough to carry everything.

"Is there anything else you need?" Annabel asked as they continued strolling down the alley, her thirst for shopping quenched for the moment.

"I think we got everything... except a wand." Harry replied, earning a snort from his friend, "What's so funny?"

"A wand? Really?"

"I'm sure it's... very important..." Harry replied, clearly unconvinced, "Come on. Let's just get this over with."

_**HPaCT**_

While many of the shops could be called quaint, Ollivander's shop was the strangest by far. While it lacked the flair and appearances of many other stores, the owner blew them all out of the water. Ollivander was a decidedly strange man. Within seconds, Harry was wrapped up in his measuring tape, and Ollivander was wandering the depths of his shop, searching for the perfect wand. Annabel, having nothing better to do, followed the shop keeper, peppering him with inquisitions.

"Why do wizards use wands?"

"Wands are easy to carry, easy to use, and easy to make," Ollivander replied offhandedly, still hunting through his wand collection

"Magicians use wands. Why don't you use staffs?"

"Staffs are much more difficult to craft and learn to use. While they are more powerful, the additional power is not enough to offset these problems."

"But you can't use a wand to hit someone."

"True, but magic is more than enough to solve most problems. If you want to hit someone, I suggest using a sword. It's much more effective than a staff for physical violence."

Further conversation was interrupted, as Harry had finally had enough of measuring.

"Did you find a wand yet?" he shouted, uncomfortably watching as the tape measured the diameter of his irises.

"Coming Mr. Potter!" Ollivander declared merrily, his arms filled with wands. "Let's see if we have a suitable match for you!"

Wand after wand was tried, with poor to mediocre results. There were few wands that Ollivander set aside, but fortunately, they finally found a match.

As Harry waved what felt like the hundredth wand, a gout of flames shot from the tip. The flames seemed to swell, and the very air of the store seemed to set alight.

Even Annabel couldn't help but be impressed by the display. Harry, as the source of the event, was completely in awe as what he had wrought. Ollivander, used to such displays, merely took the wand from Harry's hand, to give the wand one last examination.

"Ash, eleven and a half inches, with a core of dragon heartstring soaked in thestral blood. Particularly attuned to fire magic." Ollivander recited from memory, "This is quite a temperamental combination, I would recommend being careful with your spell work, or you might set the school ablaze."

Harry nodded numbly, and quickly paid Ollivander, his eyes never leaving his wand.

_**HPaCT**_

They barely made it back to the movie theater in time to meet up with Annabel's mom. The car was so filled with bags, that smuggling Harry's new luggage was easy, and she was so happy at the deals she had found, the presence of two owls went completely unnoticed.

Sadly, Harry was enamored with the magical world, and spent his time looking through the books, and waving his wand to do anything else. Even Rex was somewhat ignored, as the new world consumed Harry's mind.

Annabel left him alone for a week, before getting sick of being ignored.

Harry was lucky to get that.

_**HPaCT**_

"Hey."

"Hm? What's up Annabel?" Harry asked.

Rather than replying verbally, Annabel brought her bat crashing down on his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Harry complained, before she forcefully grabbed him, and dragged him out of the house.

Harry continued to complain, though was ignored. Finally, Annabel stopped, and Harry sighed in annoyance. She had hit him over the head, dragged him to the park, and hadn't said a word other than 'hey.'

"What is wrong with you?"

Annabel didn't reply, right away, waiting a few moments before she answered, "Idiot. You're going to have a whole year to learn about magic. You've got less than a month to spend time with your friends."

Harry stopped, and realized how much time he had spent looking over his books. Despite her angry expression, he noticed that there was a hurt look in her eyes. There was only one response.

"...Sorry..."

"Idiot. Come on. We need one more player for baseball."

Harry had never played a real baseball game before, mainly sticking to catch or some batting practice with Annabel. As a result, he was quickly relegated to playing catcher. Despite this, he quickly found that he was enjoying himself. While he didn't perform especially well, Annabel's skill, combined with her reputation, made it easy for their team to win. The most exhilarating moment was when she hit a home run, letting Harry get to home plate and clinch their victory..

It wasn't until the game was over, and Annabel had wrapped her arms around him in celebration that Harry realized something.

Until now, it hadn't hit him until now that he wouldn't be able to do this again until next summer, and just how much he was going to miss it.

_**HPaCT**_

Annabel was kind enough to give him a ride to London, partially out of friendship, but mostly out of curiosity about how to get to a platform that didn't exist.

"So, where is this platform?"

"I don't know. Mrs. Figg said it was nine and three quarters, so it must be around here somewhere... do you see anything Rex?"

_**"YEAH. IT'S RIGHT THERE... SEE?"**_

Harry winced as Rex shared his sight, and the world turned to shades of grey.

Glancing over at Annabel, he noticed that she was glowing a faint purple, and that the glow was tied to Homer. Turning away, Harry saw that one of the columns was glowing brilliantly, though it was completely white. As he looked more carefully, he could see the shape of a door hidden in the glow.

"There it is... follow me Annie." Harry said, taking her hand.

"Wha- wait Harry! That's a wall!" Annabel shouted, though her protests were ignored as Harry continued to pull her behind him. As they approached the seemingly solid wall, she let out a small shriek as they passed right through.

As the pain she expected failed to occur opened her eyes. Indignation and anger filled her, as she saw Harry smiling at her.

"You JERK!"

"Ow! Sorry! I'm sorry!"

After a few moments of exacting her revenge, Annabel calmed down enough to look around, and Harry followed suit. Looking at the platform, and the shining train waiting for its passengers, there was only one appropriate response.

"Whoa..."

Harry was the first to regain his senses, shaking his head as he began to walk towards the train. However, before he could get far. He was halted, as Annabel grabbed his hand.

"Hm? What's wrong Annie?"

"Here..." Annabel whispered, holding out her bat, "take this with you, alright Harry?"

"But Annie... that's your favorite bat..."

"Yeah, it is, so you'd better bring it back, alright?"

Harry grinned before heading towards the train, "I promise."

Annabel returned his smile, "Good luck at Hogwarts Harry!"

* * *

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Knowing that their writing is appreciated inspires authors to write more.


	4. Chapter 4

There wasn't much to do with this chapter, since it's just the trip to Hogwarts. As a result, it's a lot shorter. Hopefully the next chapter will be a lot long.

* * *

_**HPaCT**_

The train ride to a magical school was quite similar to any other train ride, that is to say, that it was fairly boring. Harry, being among the first to arrive, quickly settled into a compartment. Loading his trunk into the upper storage area, he quickly retrieved Rex and set him down across from him. While Rex wasn't exactly human, it was better than staring into space.

**_"SO, HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE?"_**

"I don't know. I've never gone to Hogwarts before."

**_"WELL I HOPE ITS SOON. THIS TRAIN GIVES ME A HEADACHE. IT'S WAY TO BRIGHT."_**

"It'll probably be worse at Hogwarts. It is a magic school after all."

**_"OH. THAT'S RIGHT... CAN I STAY WITH ANNIE?"_**

"Nope."

**_"AWWW..."_**

Harry laughed at Rex's reaction, just in time for a redhead to walk in.

"So, what's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, Rex was just complaining about going to Hogwarts."

"Rex? Is that your familiar?"

"Um... I guess so..." Harry replied uncertainly, grabbing Rex, "This is Rex."

"Oh..." the redhead replied, looking at Harry strangely... "Well, I'll just be going now..."

"See you later!" as their companion departed, Rex looked over at Harry.

_**"WEIRD KID. YOU'D THINK HE'D NEVER SEEN A MONSTER BEFORE."**_

"Well, maybe he hasn't. I've only met you and Homer."

**_"BUT HE'S A WIZARD. SHOULDN'T HE BE USED TO STRANGE THINGS?"_**

"I think you're a bit stranger than usual..."

Once again, their conversation was put on hold, as a woman knocked on the door. Harry stared in awe at the selection of snacks. Completely unlike snacks he was used to, Harry couldn't help but buy at least a few of each. While some of them seemed benign, such a licorice wands, others, such as the every flavor beans, proved to be less so. On the plus side, the Chocolate Frogs proved to be a big hit with Rex, who enjoyed stalking them. Harry was just glad he had something to do that didn't involve transforming.

It wouldn't look good if he caused the train to crash on his first day as a wizard. Even if it wasn't really his fault.

"Excuse me, have you seen a toad around here?" Harry turned to see rather pudgy boy standing by the door.

"No, I haven't. Sorry." Harry responded, "Do you want some help looking for it?"

"No. There's no need to go out of you way." the boy replied, "I'm sure Trevor will turn up somewhere..."

Their conversation concluded, the boy left, and Harry resumed watching Rex hunt down the chocolate treats.

"So, it is fun hunting down chocolate animals?" Harry asked,

**_"YEAH, IT'S PRETTY FUN. NOT AS FUN WHEN I'M SMALL LIKE THIS, BUT STILL PRETTY FUN."_**

"Well, you're going to have to stay small. If you change, you'll probably wreck the train."

**_"YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT'S A BAD THING."_**

"I'd rather not get kicked out of school before we get there. That's why." Harry replied.

**_"BUT SHOULDN'T I GET IT ALL OUT OF MY SYSTEM BEFORE WE GET THERE?"_** Rex wheedled.

"Well, if it'll keep you from burning down the school..." Harry though to himself, before shaking his head, "NO! No destroying the train, alright Rex?"

_**"FINE..."**_

Harry eyed his friend suspiciously, before an uppity young girl barged into the compartment.

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost his." Harry glanced up to see a rather brazen girl standing at the door, waiting for a reply.

"Neville... I think he came by here earlier, is he short and kind of pudgy?"

"That sounds about right."

"Sorry, I haven't seen his toad. Do you want a hand looking?"

She smiled, "That would be lovely. Hermione Granger."

"Harry Potter." was his response as they exited the compartment.

"Are you really?"

"Um... yes?"

"I've read about you!"

"Read about me? I'm... in books?"

"Of course! After what you did, didn't you think people would write about it?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"How could you not know?"

"I grew up with my relatives. They... didn't really like magic..." Harry mumbled, thinking about what had happened when Rex first came into his life. Granted, magic was probably not as bad as Rex, but considering that Uncle Vernon's brain was melted, he could understand why magic was avoided.

"Well, you ought to make an effort to learn, you're in dozens of books, including Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and even Great Wizarding Events if the Twntieth Century!"

"Really?" Harry asked, "What did I do to get into them?"

Hermione looked scandalized, "Y-you defeated the Dark Lord!"

"I did?"

Hermione gaped, unable to wrap her mind around the idea of an oblivious hero.

"Do... you think you could fill me in?" Harry asked, wincing as he saw her eyes lit up. Maybe asking her was a bad idea...

_**HPaCT**_

Harry allowed himself to be dragged all over the train in search of the missing toad. Far from a silent search, his companion jabbered on and on, initially concerning his exploits, and the rumors surrounding his ten year absence, but once that topic was exhausted, she branched out to other topics, such as the properties of dragon's blood discussed in their first year Potions textbook, and the charms she had experimented with over the summer.

When they returned to his compartment, Harry felt a little relieved. Hermione was a nice girl, but she just loved to talk, and it was exhausting. It didn't help that he was her current subject of interest. It seemed that she knew more about his life than he did!

"Harry, your compartment!" Hermione shrieked, rousing Harry from his stupor. Glancing into the compartment, it was easy to see why she reacted that way. The entire compartment was trashed, the seats torn up, and Harry's luggage opened and strewn all over the place. For Harry, being well versed in such situations, it wasn't difficult to locate the culprit, especially since he was still there. Rex was a rambunctious fellow, and without Harry there to reprimand him and keep him in check, he had gotten a bit over enthusiastic with the room.

"I think you've been robbed!"

"Right...robbed..." Harry responded, glaring at the innocuous seeming toy sitting in the center of the havoc.

"I'm going to report this to the prefects right now! People shouldn't be allowed to get away with this sort of behavior!" Harry felt a vague sense of panic well up inside him. While they probably wouldn't suspect Rex, drawing attention to it would just make things more difficult, and from what Hermione had told him, he was already going to have more attention than he liked.

"Hermione wait! It was probably..." Harry desperately searched for a culprit that wouldn't cause problems"...a fan! Someone probably wanted something that belonged to me as a souvenir. You said I was famous, right?" On one level, Harry was relieved that she had seemingly memorized his life story. If one person did it, certainly others did the same, right?

"I suppose, but that doesn't mean they should get away with it!" Hermione protested.

"I promise, if this happens again, I'll report it right away." Harry attempted to sooth his companion.

"Well, alright..." Hermione huffed, though she didn't seem happy about it. "Do you want a hand cleaning everyhting up?"

"I've got it. Besides, I still have to change into my robes."

"Well, alright. I need to get back to my compartment anyways." Hermione assented, leaving Harry alone for what felt like the first time in ages. He enjoyed the silence for a breif moment, before turning his attention to his wayward companion.

"So, what was it this time?"

_**"I GOT BORED ONCE I ATE ALL OF THE FROGS."**_

Harry sighed, "Well, at least you're honest about it..."

**_"WE'RE ALMOST THERE. YOU SHOULD PROBABLY CHANGE..."_**

"I just hope I can find my robes in this mess you made..."

_**HPaCT**_

Fortunately, the remainder of the trip was uneventful, and Harry managed to change without any problems, and spent the rest of the time cleaning up after Rex. He was lucky enough to clear most of the mess, and repack his trunk before the train slowly came to a halt. Sighing in relief, Harry grabbed his things, making sure Rex was where he could see him, and departed.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Harry gawked at the truly massive man calling out to the students, before following the rest into a group down towards the lake.

"Alrigh' now everyone get in a boat and we'll be off!"

Harry, along with the rest of the students, followed the large man down to the edge of the lake, and cautiously boarded the boats.

Harry purposefully avoided Hermione's boat, wanting a bit more time to recover from their last chat. As a result he wound up in a boat with a pair of twins and a dark hair girl. Being the only boy, Harry found himself sitting in awkward silence as the remaining passengers chatted idly.

Fortunately, the awkward situation quickly passed, as they all got their first glimpse of Hogwarts. Gasps of awe filled the air, as the majestic castle came into view. That sense of awe remained with them as the disembarked from the boats.

Their escort lead them up the steps, to the front gates, and banged heavily on the door. With a deep creaking sound, the doors swung open, revealing a stern looking witch.

"Here ya go Professor McGonagall, all firs' years present an' accounted for."

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here." with a glace, McGonagall directed the collection of children to follow her, which thy did without protest.

_**"YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT THIS PLACE. IT DOES GIVE ME A HEADACHE."**_

"Shut up Rex!" Harry hissed quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention.

_**"BUT IT REALLY, REALLY HURTS!"**_

"If it hurts so much, then why not close your eyes?"

_**"BECAUSE THEN I WON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING."**_

"There's just no pleasing you, is there." Harry said, grateful that something seemed to be drawing everyone else's attention.

_**"I JUST WANT THERE TO BE AN OFF SWITCH. HECK, I'D SETTLE FOR A DIMMER."**_

"I don't think magic has anything like that."

_**"WHY NOT?"**_

"I don't know! Why isn't the sun blue?"

**_"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?"_**

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed, a bit louder than he intended.

"Will you shut up!" one of the twins stomped on his foot. It was only then that Harry realized that they had arrived at their destination, and that there was a singing hat. Somehow, he found this more unusual than anything he had seen yet.

Harry watched in interest as the Sorting Hat was placed on every students' head, and cried out the name of one of the houses after a short period. Some of them, like the arrogant looking one name Draco, were sorted in an instant. Others, like Neville, took much longer. Harry found himself wondering if there was a time limit, or if they just waited until it was finished. Hearing Rex growl in boredom, Harry couldn't help but think about what would happen if he put the Hat on. At the very least, it would be an interesting and unique experience.

"Potter, Harry!"

Startled out of his thoughts, Harry glanced around, making sure they had really called his name. As McGonagall looked at him meaningfully, he started forward, trying to ignore the whispers and murmurs from the students.

Harry approached the hat cautiously. Hermione's chattering had given him a basic understanding of the houses, and little he had heard of the song helped, but the idea of something looking inside his head was a little disturbing. Granted, his best friend was an unspeakable horror from who knows where, but there were some things that were just plain creepy.

A glare from McGonagall forced Harry to set aside his concerns and take his seat. As the hat settled on his head, Harry was surprised to feel another entity inside his head.

"Interesting... very interesting... there seems to be something protecting your mind, but it's not Occumency or any type of magical protection I've seen before. Still, if you think that'll keep my from doing my job, you've got another thing coming." Harry flinched, as he felt pressure on his brain, but it quickly faded, though he still felt somewhat strange.

"Don't worry my boy, your secrets are safe with me. Now let's have a look..." the Hat muttered, "Plenty of courage, it seems, not many people would attack their teacher like that. Seems that gave you some distrust towards authority. You're a fairly smart kid, not exceptional, but smart. I could put you just about anywhere, and I doubt there would be much complaining..."

Harry didn't respond, still adjusting to the fact that there was something in his head. Absently, he wished Annabel was here with him.

"Ah, it seems to miss your friend... it looks like that friend was the reason you attacked your teacher, and is the reason for some of your adventures. You've got a strong sense of loyalty in you, and given that, I think the best place for you is HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was a moment of awkward silence following the announcement of Harry's house, but it was quickly eclipsed as Hufflepuff table burst into cheers. The remaining houses quickly joined them in the applause.

* * *

Here are a couple of Omake, to make up for the shortness of the chapter. Hope they amuse you.

_**HPaCT**_

Alternate Sorting Hat

Unfortunately, as the Hat was placed on Harry's head, he was talking with Rex. While the Sorting Hat was used to unusual thoughts, and had seen more than its share of disturbing things, there was very little that was capable of surviving in the mind of a monster.

The hat let out a piercing scream, before bursting into flames. The hall was dead silent, as both students and teachers stared at Harry in a mixture of fear and awe.

As the flames died down, leaving Harry coated in a layer of ashes, he blushed, thinking that there was no possible way for things to get worse.

Sadly, the young Potter had never heard of Murphy.

"HA! TAKE THAT YOU STUPID HAT!" Rex crowed as he resumed his true form. So caught up in his gloating, he paid no heed to the now terrified people before him, blasting flames and rending furniture to celebrate his victory.

While wizards and witches, like the Sorting Hat, were used to strange and disturbing things, they had never encounter something like a Monster. The entire students body, as well as the staff, was quickly driven into madness as Rex rampaged through the Great Hall.

Well, at least it wouldn't be boring...

_**HPaCT**_

Hermione the Creepy Fangirl

When they returned to his compartment, Harry felt a little relieved. Hermione was a nice girl, but she just loved to talk, and it was exhausting. It didn't help that he was her current subject of interest. It seemed that she knew more about his life than he did!

"Harry, your compartment!" Hermione shrieked, rousing Harry from his stupor. Glancing into the compartment, it was easy to see why she reacted that way. The entire compartment was trashed, the seats torn up, and Harry's luggage opened and strewn all over the place. For Harry, being well versed in such situations, it wasn't difficult to locate the culprit, especially since he was still there. Rex was a rambunctious fellow, and without Harry there to reprimand him and keep him in check, he had gotten a bit over enthusiastic with the room.

"I think you've been robbed!"

"Right...robbed..." Harry responded, glaring at the innocuous seeming toy sitting in the center of the havoc.

"I'm going to report this to the prefects right now! People shouldn't be allowed to get away with this sort of behavior!" Harry felt a vague sense of panic well up inside him. While they probably wouldn't suspect Rex, drawing attention to it would just make things more difficult, and from what Hermione had told him, he was already going to have more attention than he liked.

"Hermione wait! It was probably..." Harry desperately searched for a culprit that wouldn't cause problems"...a fan! Someone probably wanted something that belonged to me as a souvenir. You said I was famous, right?" On one level, Harry was relieved that she had seemingly memorized his life story. If one person did it, certainly others did the same, right?

"A fan... I suppose that makes sense..."

As Harry began to clean up the mess, Hermione helped, and discreetly pocketed one of his socks. The room was quickly cleaned, and Hermione bid Harry goodbye. As soon as she exited the compartment, she glanced around warily, before retrieving her prize.

***SNIIIIIIFF***

A disturbing grin crossed the young girl's face as she inhaled the scent of the hero of the wizarding world. Today was a good day.

* * *

What do you guys think? Good? I'm okay with this chapter, not happy, but okay. Of all the chapters, it's the one I'm most likely to fiddle around with in my spare time. I might expand a scene or two, or change some minor details. Not anything that will have a major impact on the upcoming parts, but might improve the overall story. I guess we'll see...

Apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors. I think I caught most of them, but without a beta reader, there's probably one or two things I missed. I should really start looking for one...

As always, reviews are desired and much appreciated. Speaking of which...

**Review Responses**:

I reserve the right to not respond to reviews or specific questions, especially if it might be considered spoiler material.

peruser: Monsters have the ability to disguise themselves, so they appear to be normal objects, animals, or even people. There are some exceptions to this, which I may have funw ith later, but generally, only other Monsters can recognize them.

Going back to your first review... Rex isn't smart enough not to kill people. He just hasn't been provoked to the point where he will attack and kill people. Dudley got scared off, and Vernon' fate is what many might consider to be worse than death. Had Vernon actually gottn to hit Harry, the house would have been leveled, and Petunia and Dudley would likely have been maimed in the collateral damage. Rex is a monster, he just hasn't been provoked into true violence against people.

Baughn: I answered your question in the previous chapter, but Annabel is not a witch, as you can plainly see.

Tourette: Yes, there will be more monsters.

insanemystique317: Rex wasn't brought to life by Harry. Homer should be evidence of that. Monsters are... something else. Not created by magic or muggles. I'd recommend buying, or at least reading Monsters and Other Childish things to get a better idea on just what a monster is.


	5. Chapter 5

First off, apologies for the long wait. Life for me is fairly busy, with Summer School, and more importantly, Job Hunting. I'll try to raise my update speed, but once again, no promises.

I'm looking for a beta to bounce ideas off of and proof my chapters. If anyone is interested, let me know.

So without further ado, here's the next chapter:

* * *

Review Responses:

Fiori75: Monsters and other childish things can be found at www (dot)arcdream (dot)com (slash)monsters

den: When you start writing, you can start bitching about update speed. It has to be good writing too, none of that ten minutes of mindless rambling and calling it a fic.

Baughn: Monsters give their partners a level of protection. I decided to include muggle repelling charms as something they protect against, which is why Annabel can go to Diagon Alley, the Platform, and other places that would normally be ignored.

* * *

_**HPaCT**_

Harry was greeted with hearty welcomes and many slaps on the back by his new house mates, and was quickly overwhelmed by the experience. Fortunately, there were additional students to be sorted, and they quickly returned their attention to the ongoing sorting. Harry took the opportunity presented by the change of focus to look around the table. A lot of people, mainly the newly selected first years, watched with rapt attention as the Sorting continued. Others chose to use the time to chat with their friends, only paying attention when the Hat shouted their house name. Unfortunately, the window of observation closed as Zabini, Blaise was sorted into Slytherin.

Dinner proved no less eventful, as the tables were suddenly filled with all types of food, and the air was suddenly rife with ghosts of all shapes and sizes. Harry forgot to eat for a few moments as he watched them wander through the hall, engaging students in conversation, before one of the older students nudged him.

Harry began wolfing down the food, half listening to the conversations around him. He was mildly disappointed that aside from the context, the conversations were almost identical to the ones he overheard in the Muggle world. Gossip about summer activities, who was dating who, who was trying out for the sports team, and who started using glamor spells for their boyfriend. All just as boring as in the muggle world. Tuning out the conversations around him, Harry focused on enjoying the meal until the feast was called to an end and they were escorted to the Hufflepuff dormitories.

The events in the common room were much more engaging, as the older students all but forced the newly minted Hufflepuffs to socialize. While an uncomfortable situation, Harry found himself grateful for it as he quickly learned the basics of his house mates. While not nearly enough to tell their life stories, save for one long winded first year, it helped break the ice between the nervous first years. Having learned on the train that monsters were as unknown in the magical world as the muggle world, Harry refrained from introducing Rex, despite his complaints.

After the initial introductions, the conversations became more casual, and people began to drift into groups. Harry soon found himself dragged into a conversation and did his best to keep up with the rapidly changing topics. What was it about girls that made them do that? Even Annabel abruptly changed the subject at times.

When the night come to an end, Harry retired to his dorm room with his roommates, and promptly stuffed Rex into his wardrobe. Rex's complaints about Hogwarts had worn thin over the course of the night, leading Harry to put him out of the way, and leave his near constant companion in the room to whine to himself. Hopefully he would adjust to the magic rich environment soon. Harry didn't want to have to put up with the complaints for the entirety of his stay.

**_HPaCT_**

The next day, Harry quickly found that Hogwarts was unlike grade school he was used to, and more like the adventures he went on with Annabel. Nothing seemed to remain the same from one hour to the next. Moving stairways, false doors, talking paintings, all of these contributed to the sense of wonder that Hogwarts invoked. Unfortunately, that sense of wonder made it difficult to focus on important things, such as getting to class on time. This was especially problematic for Harry and the other first years, as they had never been to Hogwarts before, and were already hopelessly lost.

Needless to say, they were almost unanimously late for their first classes.

**_HPaCT_**

Transfiguration class was an unmitigated disaster. Professor McGonagall was a strict teacher, and quickly impressed upon her students that spell casting, especially transfiguration, was serious business. If they were to have any hope of succeeding in this field, they would need to study hard, practice long, and above all, focus.

Unfortunately, Harry's focus was apparently not strong enough. When he attempted to replicate McGonagall's feat, his match, instead of transforming like hers, or doing nothing, like most students', his caught on fire.

McGonagall frowned as he meekly requested a second match, only for the same thing to happen again. After the fifth burnt match, Harry managed to avoid burning it completely, but was still greatly frustrated by his lack of progress. Just as class was coming to an end, Harry screwed up his face, and put everything he had into transforming the match before him.

On the bright side, it didn't catch on fire. Sadly, that was because it exploded instead. While no one was harmed, it left a sizable hole in the desk, and infuriated McGonagall into giving him detention later in the week, as well as losing ten points for Hufflepuff.

**_HPaCT_**

Charms class was far less problematic, as Professor Flitwick seemed more concerned that they had fun than with getting things right. The atmosphere was far more relaxing and enjoyable as they alternately tried to light and extinguish candles. Harry's difficulties in transfiguration were a boon in charms, as he easily lit his candle, thought the burst of flame startled his partner, Susan, so badly she overdid the water summoning charm and soaked Harry.

Flitwick merely laughed, before casting a quick drying charm and solving Harry's predicament. The next several minutes were spent trying to get Susan to stop apologizing and offering to make it up. Apparently, she wouldn't take no for an answer, which was how Harry found himself promising to attend a study session later in the week.

Afterwards, the class proceeded fairly smoothly, and concluded with a short assignment to list five uses for each of the charms they had learned.

**_HPaCT_**

Herbology was another hands on class, but lacked the inherent riskiness of children wielding magic. Professor Sprout had a motherly persona, and calmly explained the wonders to be found in magical flora.

After the introductory spiel, she spent the first class giving the class a tour of Greenhouse One, while holding a brief review session concerning the more common, and safe, magical plants they would be working with. While many of them looked no different from regular plants to their untrained eyes, there were several that were obviously unusual.

Harry particularly liked the Frutis Multiplicis, better known as the Fruit of the Month Tree.

**_HPaCT_**

History of Magic was the same as any History class, except it was, if anything, more boring. Professor Binns droned endlessly about the Goblin Wars, occasionally lapsing into tangent of his personal experiences during his generations' war. Sadly, rather than the roaring hack and slash adventure Harry and the other boys were hoping for, Professor Binns had spent his time during the war learning the finer points of cleaning charms, in order to help out his family's high quality cleaning service.

**_HPaCT_**

Defense against the Dark Arts was probably the worst class. While Quirrel did cover the essential material, and managed to avoid boring the students to sleep, he did have one major flaw, his stutter. It took Quirrel minutes to make his point, and if anyone made noise, he would jump, lose his place, and have to start over. He barely covered any of the material, leading to everything that went unmentioned being assigned as homework. The amount of Defense Against the Dark Arts homework was easily three times that of any other class.

Fortunately, the class was interesting, as opposed to History of Magic, so the extra work was entertaining, as much as homework could be. While the class was exceptionally boring, at least the subject caught Harry's attention.

**_HPaCT_**

Harry sighed, the week was nearly over, just one more class, and his first ever detention, and he could enjoy the weekend. He stopped by the dorm, partially to pick up his Potions supplies, but mainly to check on Rex.

"How are you doing Rex?" Harry said, pulling his partner out of his pillow case.

**_"Argh... I think I'm doing better. Things seem less bright now. Maybe I'm getting used to it."_** Rex groaned pitifully.

Should I leave you to get some more rest?" Harry asked.

**_"No, I think I'm good to go. Besides. This room is so boring, I think I'm going crazy."_**

"Are you sure? I don't want you to burn down the school because it gives you a headache."

**_"I won't!"_** Rex whined.

"Are you sure?"

**_"Positive!"_**

"You promise?" Harry responded, still skeptical about Rex' self control.

**_"Totally, now let's get out of here!"_** Rex answered, hopping into Harry's bag.

Harry sighed, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he gathered up the necessary items. It was only one class, how bad could things become?

_**HPaCT**_

Harry regretted bringing Rex with him, as his partner continued to complain about the brightness Hogwarts displayed to his unique eyes. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to take him back to the room before Potions, so Harry just hoped that Rex would remain somewhat quiet. If he was really lucky, he might even take a nap.

Sighing to himself, knowing that the odds of Rex napping were almost zero, Harry just hurried to class.

"You're late. Two points from Hufflepuff."

Harry winced at the loss, and quickly apologized, "Sorry sir. I had to get something from my room."

"Well, it seems that the great Harry Potter isn't all he's cracked up to be. Can't even get to class without having to waste time grabbing things he should have already had. Three more points from Hufflepuff."

Harry sat down, wincing at the glares Susan and Hannah were shooting him from across the room.

"Now provided that none of the other Hufflepuffs are running late and wasting my class time, let us continue. I am Professor Severus Snape, and for your seven years at Hogwarts, I will be teaching you the art of potion making. There is no silly wand waving in my classroom, potions are a more refined practice, and if any of you possess the capability of understanding it, which I very much doubt, you will reach the peak of magical knowhow. With my instruction, you will learn how to brew power, mix fame, and even stopper death."

Snape turned to glare at them, "Now, let's see if any of you have an ounce of talent, " he waved his hand, and instructions appeared on th board behind him, "You have one hour to brew this simple hair potion. Try not to screw up."

Harry frowned at the board, before his table partner elbowed him, and he hastily began to pull out his equipment. Sadly, the lesson only worsened from there. Whereas McGonagall penalized him for the explosion, Snape penalized him for pretty much anything. The glares sent in his direction quickly changed to sympathy, as he was penalized for the least little things, like a slightly lighter shade than the standard potion.

By the end of class, Hufflepuff had lost a total of twenty five points, and Harry was so angry he didn't notice that Rex was no longer stashed in his book bag.

_**HPaCT**_

**_"HEY JERKFACE."_**

Snape sighed, it seemed that at least one student didn't understand the concept of respect. The same thing happened two years ago, when those accursed Weasley twins first arrived in Hogwarts. While they never ceased to irritate him, they learned not to confront him head on, just as this child would. Allowing himself a smug smirk, Snape drew his wand, intent on dealing with this "threat." He wouldn't make the mistake of holding back like with the Weasley Twins. Whoever was foolish enough to harass him was going to experience the tender mercies of the hospital wing for at least a month.

Snape threw the door open, only for his curse to die on his lips. Rather than the unprepared children he expected, he found himself face to face with a pair of drooling jaws.

_**"I DON'T LIKE YOU. YOU'RE MEAN TO HARRY, AND YOU SMELL TERRIBLE. LIKE SOMETHING DEAD OR SOMETHING."**_

Snape smirked at hearing Harry's name. Clearly, the arrogant young brat had learned an illusion spell or two, and decided to have fun at his expense. His voice dripping with sarcasm, he responded, "Oh dear a terrible monster. If only there was someone to save me."

**_"NO SUCH LUCK SMELLY."_**

"I have no need for luck. Not when dealing with an arrogant brat like you Potter!" Snape shouted, brandishing his wand and blasting the creature in front of him with a spell. He was mildly surprised that it withstood his initial attempt, but quickly cast again, and again, growing more annoyed with each attempt. No matter what spell he used to banish it, none seemed to work. Finally, his frustration reached its peak, and Snape resorted to less benign spells. The cycle continued, until Snape had enough.

"Sectum Sempra!"

The beast roared, but more out of annoyance than any real pain. Black ichor dripped from its chest, but the wound only seemed to make it mad.

Flames began to drip from its jaws as it grinned sadistically, _**"MY TURN."**_

Snape screamed as flames engulfed his face, and the reality of the monster before him consumed his mind.

_**HPaCT**_

Meanwhile, Harry found himself experiencing McGonagall's detention. While nothing like some of the horror stories he had heard from the upper years, it was far from enjoyable.

McGonagall was a strict, no nonsense professor, and her detention was much the same. Intent on nipping a new troublemaker in the bud, she simply had Harry practice the basic transfiguration again and again, believing that without a captive audience, he would quickly stop fooling around and get it right.

Needless to say, after ten minutes and three boxes of matches, both partied were becoming frustrated.

"Mr. Potter! I insist that you stop fooling around! You will remain in detention until you manage to transfigure a match properly!" McGonagall lectured, not quite yelling, but more than enough to frustrate the young wizard.

"I'm trying! "

McGonagall glared at him, ""

A brief walk to the infirmary later, Harry found himself at the tender mercies of Madame Pomphrey. As McGonagall explained the exact nature of their presence. Clucking her tongue, Pomphrey cast several spells on the bewildered boy, before announcing her diagnosis.

"It seems Mr. Potter has a strong inclination towards pyromancy. His wand only serves to further exacerbate the problem, given that its core is dragon heart string."

"You're saying that Mr. Potter can't help but set things aflame?"

"Indeed. His magic naturally attempts to take on a fire related purpose. The fact that he was working with a match just made the effects more pronounced. If Filius didn't start with the ignition charm and dousing charm, I'm sure that the same thing would have happened in his class."

"I see."

"You'll have to spend some time practicing your spells Mr. Potter, as you learn more powerful spells, the effects of your inclination will become more pronounced unless you learn to control it. The sooner the better."

"Yes ma'am."

McGonagall sighed, "Well, it appears that I was in error to penalize you in class. For that, I apologize Mr. Potter."

"...Thank you?" Harry responded uncertainly, "I guess, I'll be going then?"

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter, you do still have detention."

"What?" Harry protested.

"While it was assigned in error, we might as well utilize your detention to start learning to control your proclivities. Sit down Mr. Potter, and let's see if we can learn to avoid starting fires."

Thus began Harry's crash course in controlling his magic. Unsurprisingly, there was little difference from his earlier activities, as McGonagall watched, occasionally offering advice or lecturing him on his mistakes.

Finally, after what felt like years, Harry managed to consistently avoid burning his match, even managing to transfigure one or two into needles. Relieved at McGonagall's nod of approval. Harry got up, eager to get to dinner.

"Not so fast Mr. Potter." Harry sighed as he turned to face McGonagall. After nearly four hours, he wanted nothing more than to eat, and goof off in the common room, or maybe just go to sleep.

"As I would hate for any students to take advantage of their 'affliction,' you will spend the first Monday of every month in detention with me so your control can be assessed. I would hate for Hogwarts to be burned to the ground because on of her students decided to be lazy."

"Yes Professor."

"And twenty points to Hufflepuff. Consider it an apology for doubting you Mr. Potter, as well as congratulations for accomplishing your first few transfigurations.."

Harry thanked her, and walked to the Great Hall for dinner.

_**HPaCT**_

"May I have your attention please." Dumbledore called from the teacher's table. "Earlier today, Professor Snape suffered an unfortunate potions accident, which not only destroyed his chamber, but badly injured him. Until we can find a substitute for Severus' recovery, I will be teaching potions classes."

Immediately the hall erupted in theories behind the circumstances. The idea of a Potions Master making a mistake and blowing himself up was absurd. As the debates dragged on, the primary theory was that the Weasley Twins had either gotten sick of him and got rid of him or that one of their pranks had gone horribly wrong, but there were many others considered for the role of perpetrator. Someone even proposed McGonagall since Snape was well known for harassing Gryffindors.

Harry, remaining silent, finally noticed that Rex was missing, and got a familiar sinking sensation in his chest.

_**HPaCT**_

When Rex finally returned to the dorm, he found himself face to face with an angry Harry.

"Rex...do you know what happened to Snape?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

_**"All I did was set him on fire a little bit."**_ Rex protested, **_"he was the one that blew up the lab."_**

"Do you think that would have happened if he wasn't on fire?" Harry sighed.

**_"It could have!"_** Rex defended, **_"Besides, it's not like you liked him, right?"_**

"Well..." Harry hesitated.

_**"And no one else seems to like him either, right?"**_ Rex wheedled, sensing a weakness.

"I suppose..."

**_"Snape didn't die or anything, and he'll probably be fine in a few weeks, so all I really did was get rid of a teacher no one like for someone they'll probably like better. Is that so wrong?"_**

"That doesn't seem quite right..."

_**"Let's worry about it later. I finally managed to get rid of the annoying light and I want to see what this old hunk of rock has hidden a way."**_

Presented with an opportunity that he had been waiting all week for, Harry agreed to put the Snape question aside for the sake of adventure.

* * *

Well, Harry's entry to Hogwarts is over with, and next chapter is going to be him exploring Hogwarts. This chapter wasn't as long as I was hoping, but there wasn't too much to do with it, and I didn't want to put exploring Hogwarts in with it. It's a good chance to play around with Hogwarts, since there are plenty of places that aren't covered in the books, it could be interested.

Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner, but as I said, I have other obligations.

As always, don't forget that reviews are greatly appreciated, so make sure to leave one.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes:

Deviate's Fish : The reason the dialogue sounds American is because I am an American, and don't rally have a strong enough grasp of Brit lingo/culture to pull it off properly. That's one of the reasons I'm hunting for a Beta Reader.

Water Shard: Annabel will be appearing again in some form. She and Harry will exchange letters while he's at Hogwarts, which I'll hopefully be able to work into the story, and they'll be hanging out during the summers.

Memory King: Dumbeldore's reaction will be mainly unseen, since the first years only had one class with him, so probably didn't learn much from him.

Baugh: Harry will get a sidekick at some point. At this point, it's only been a week, so he hasn't really had a chance to develop any strong relationships at Hogwarts.

Fiori75: ALL of Harry's spells are naturally inclined towards fire. If he tries a summoning spell on a book and doesn't focus correctly, the book will burst into flames and come hurtling towards him.

Acro111: Harry essentially has free reign at home, since the Dursley's are terrified of him. Well, two of them are. Vernon's a sack of potatoes.

MutantKillerFang: A friend of mine bought MaOCT on a whim and got us hooked on it.

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

Hogwarts at night was different. The prefects were out to get him and deduct points, instead of helping him find his class. The teachers were nowhere to be found. And of course, it was dark. While that didn't sound all that scary, Harry knew well that the dark had things that man should be afraid of.

After all, Harry knew first hand what went bump in the night.

Still, despite all of the drawbacks, Harry was excited. This was the first opportunity to see what Hogwarts was really like. The day to day actions of walking to classes, the Great Hall, and the common room barely scratched the surface of what was in Hogwarts, and Harry fully intended to see exactly what the castle had to offer.

Besides, if there was anything dangerous, Rx was more than capable of handling it.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Harry asked.

**_"LET'S FIND SOMETHING TO EAT."_**

"I don't think they sere food this late."

**_"THERE'S GOT TO BE A KITCHEN AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE, RIGHT? OR DOES FOOD JUST MAGICALLY APPEAR?"_**

"Well, this is a school for wizards..."

**_"YEAH, BUT IT HAS TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE, DOESN'T IT?"_**

"I don't know..." Harry said, before his stomach growled, followed closely by a roar from Rex's.

Rex grinned as Harry sighed, "Alright, let's see if we can find anything."

The duo began their quest, but lacking any defined direction to start in, they ended up wandering aimlessly. Fortunately, that suited them just fine, and spent the time talking.

**_"SO, DID YOU WRITE TO ANNIE YET?"_**

"No, I haven't had a chance yet. Besides, I wanted to go to all my classes first, so I can tell her about them."

**_"I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE. YOU GONNA SIGN I WITH A KISS?"_**

"Why would I do that?"

**_"AREN'T BOYS AND GIRLS SUPPOSED TO DO THAT? I ALWAYS SEE THEM DO THAT WHEN YOUR AUNT WATCHES THE TV."_**

"That's when you're grownup. Kids don't do that sort of thing."

**_"ARE YOU SURE? I SAW SOME OF THE KIDS AT YOUR OLD SCHOOL DOING IT."_**

"When?"

**_"WHEN THERE WAS SNOW EVERYWHERE. THEY WERE BIG RED AND PINK LETTERS IN the SHAPE OF HEARTS."_**

"That's Valentine's Day. It doesn't count."

**_"WHATEVER..."_**

"Hey, things are different when you're older Rex. Rex?" Harry turned to face his companion, wondering why he hadn't replied, to see Rex hesitating on the other side of the arch they had just passed under.

_**"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE HARRY. I DON'T LIKE THIS ROOM..."**_ Rex whined.

"Why, you nervous?" Harry teased, "Is big bad Rex scared of an empty room?"

**_"YEAH."_** the fact that Rex would admit that put Harry on edge. If Rex was nervous, he should be outright terrified.

Still, they had been in more obviously dangerous situations, so Harry pressed on, with Rex reluctantly following.

"Hi."

Harry started, and spun around to confront the speaker. He was surprised to see a little girl who couldn't be much older than eight.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Haldis, who are you?"

"I'm Harry."

"Do you want to be my friend?"

Harry was about to reply, but was interrupted, as Rex snarled at the girl. Surprisingly, instead of screaming, she giggled.

"Aren't you a strange creature. Who are you?"

**_"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"_**

"Rex! Don't be rude." Harry said, only to be cut off by giggling once again.

"Well, it seems your friend doesn't like me, so I'm going somewhere else." she said, before walking, almost dancing, away.

"Wait!" Harry said, trying to catch up to her.

"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure we can play some other time!"

"Wait!" Harry cried, as she ran around a corner, but by the time he reached it, she had disappeared, leaving only the sound of her laughter.

"You didn't have to be so rude Rex."

**_"I DIDN'T LIKE HER. THERE WAS SOMETHING...OFF ABOUT HER..."_**

"Was it the same thing that made you melt Snape's face?"

**_"...MAYBE..."_**

"You have to stop killing people you don't like Rex. If you keep doing that, I'll get in trouble. Remember what happened when you didn't like the Ice Cream Man?"

_**"YEAH..."**_

"We don't want that to happen again, do we?"

**_"NO..."_**

"Good."

Further conversation was cut off as Harry stomach growled, accompanied by a bellowing roar from Rex's. Harry. At least, had the decency to blush, though Rex didn't seem to care.

**_"LET'S GO BACK TO FINDING THE KITCHEN."_**

"Sounds good to me."

**_HPaCT_**

It seemed like hours before Rex caught the scent of something cooking, but that was most likely due to their mutual hunger. Rex led them deeper into the depths of the castle, before coming to a stop in from of a sizable painting of a fruit bowl.

"Is this it?"

_**"IT'S WHERE THE SMELL IS COMING FROM."**_

"How do we get in?"

**_"TRY TOUCHING THE PEAR. IT'S GLOWING FUNNY."_**

Harry did as Rex requested, but nothing happened, "I don't think that's it."

**_"TRY RUBBING IT, LIKE THAT LAMP. IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, I'LL JUST RIP IT OPEN."_**

Fortunately for the painting, rubbing it seemed to work, and the pear giggled, before swinging open. Once it was open, even Harry could smell the delicious aromas wafting from within.

"Hello sirs!" Out of nowhere, a swarm of tiny, childlike creatures appeared.

"Um... hi?" Harry wasn't sure how to react, especially since they didn't seem concerned about Rex.

"If yous is coming to the kitchen, sirs must be hungry! What can we elveses get sirs?"

"Er... could I have a sandwich?"

"Of course! And for you sir?"

**_"HM... BRING ME A HUMAN CHILD."_**

"Sir?" one of the elves asked, clearly shocked.

**_"DON'T WORRY, I'M NOT GOING TO EAT THEM, JUST THEIR NIGHTMARES."_**

"Well..."

_**"THEY'LL BE FINE. NOTHING A LITTLE THERAPY WON'T FIX."**_

"...if sir is sure..."

A pair of elves vanished, reappearing moments later with a bleary child between them.

**_"PERFECT..."_** Harry did his best to ignore the terrified moaning of Rex's meal., and enjoy his , their feast was interrupted, by the faint giggling of the pair, and the slowly opening door.

"Quick Rex, hide!" Harry hissed. The elves moved far quicker than he expected, shoving the shivering child under the table. Somehow, Rex managed to transform before the door swung completely open, and a pair of red heads strode into the room. They seemed a bit surprised to see Harry, but that was quickly replaced by identical mischievous expressions, as they took up positions beside him.

"My my my... it seems one of the ickle firsties found their way into the kitchen"

"Indeed, brother dearest. Most impressive."

"Even we didn't find the kitchens until our third week."

"Judging by how much food the elves were bringing, I'd say he was hungry."

"Hunger is a powerful motivator. Perhaps that's what helped him find the kitchens."

"If that were the case, then Ronniekins would have been here on the first night."

"He does love his food."

"Though given his manners, he could have problem later in life."

"No one likes a pig."

"Um, excuse me?" Harry interjected, tired of twisting back and forth to keep up, causing the twins to face him.

"Speaking of manners, it was rather rude of us to ignore our compatriot." The twin on the left said, before stepping in front of Harry.

"Yes brother mine, it was." said the twin on the right, following his brother's lead.

As one, the twins grinned, before launching into synchronized speech,"Allow us to introduce ourselves. Our reputation echoes through the halls of Hogwarts. Slytherins cower at the mention of our names, Ravenclaws bow before out pranking genius, Hufflepuffs laugh uncontrollably at our jokes, Gryffindors worship the ground we walk on, beautiful women swoon I our presence, and teachers shudder when they have to teach our classes. We are... the irrepressible Weasley Twins!" Miniature fireworks filled the air, and the duo took a bow.

"I'm Fred, the bad twin."

"I'm George, the evil twin."

"And just who do we have the pleasure of meeting on this fine evening?"

"I'm... Harry. Harry Potter."

Their grins grew wider, as they began circling him, sizing him up "Seems the hero of the wizarding world has a mischievous streak, wouldn't you say, brother mine?"

"I would indeed. What is the world coming to when the paragon of light sneaks out after curfew to steal a bit of food?"

"A sad state indeed. It's our duty to show him the path of righteousness!"

"Unfortunately, it'll be difficult, since our idea of right and wrong is a bit off, according to dear old mum."

"Well, we'll do the best we can, won't we Fred?" one twin, apparently George, said, braking from the disorienting circling to talk to the elves, "Just a sandwich or two tonight gents. We need to stay light and limber for our first pranks of the year."

"Indeed brother dearest. Best we get a move on before it gets too late."

"Sorry mate, but we'll have to cut this conversation short. How about we meet here again next week, when we have a bit more time on our hands?"

"Uh...sounds good?" Harry responded uncertainly, still off kilter about the entire encounter.

"Wonderful! See you next week Harry!"

_**"Are they gone?"**_ Rex asked.

"I...think so..." Harry replied, "Are you ready to go?"

**_"Sure."_** Rex answered, reverting to his true form. **_"SORRY GUYS, I"LL HAVE TO COME BACK FOR THAT SOME OTHER TIME."_**

"Is sir certain?" One of the elves asked.

**_"YEAH, JUST PUT HIM BACK IN HIS BED OR SOMETHING. YOU CAN ALWAYS GRAB HIM AGAIN NEXT TIME."_**

Their appetites sated, Harry and Rex continued to wander through Hogwarts, not paying any particular attention to where they were, or what time it was. It wasn't until they noticed the lightening windows that they realized that they had been up almost the entire night.

_**HPaCT**_

"What do you think Rex? One last room before we head back?"

**_"SURE."_**

The door they selected didn't stand out from any of the others they had seen, probably even duller. The interesting part was the hallway it concealed, rather than the standard layout of a simple rectangle, the hallway spiraled, with the floor rotating to the wall, ceiling, wall, and the floor again. There was only one response.

"How do you think they got the carpet to stay put?"

_**"PROBABLY USED GLUE OR SOMETHING."**_

"I guess that make sense," Harry said, idly tossing a rock through the doorway. Harry watched in amazement as the rock he threw down the hallway followed the spiral, before finally landing on the wall.

"Wicked."

**_"HARRY, I THINK WE SHOULD LEAVE THAT ALONE FOR NOW."_**

"What? But look how cool it is! Did you see that rock I threw?"

_**"BUT IT'S ALMOST DAWN. WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO YOUR ROOM. IF WE CHECK THIS ROOM OUT, WE'LL BE IN THERE FOREVER."**_

"What, really? We've been up all night?"

**_"LOOKS LIKE IT."_** Rex replied, gesturing down the lightening corridor.

Harry glanced back and forth, clearly torn. This room was by far the most amazing thing they had found so far, but they really needed to get back to the dorms.

**_"COME ON HARRY, THE ROOM WILL BE THERE NEXT TIME."_**

"Are you sure? The stairs and doors move around,s o why not the rooms? We might never find this room again!" Harry argued, "Besides, it's Saturday! We can sleep the whole day!"

_**"BUT WON'T YOUR ROOMMATES NOTICE?"**_

"Well..." Harry hesitated, before sighing in defeat, "fine... but if we can't find it, it's your fault!"

**_"MY FAULT? I'M NOT STOPPING YOU FROM GOING IN!"_**

"Yeah, but if you didn't tell me what time it was-"

_**"JUST BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS DOESN'T MAKE IT MY FAULT!"**_

"Yes it does!" Harry retorted, and the two of them headed back to the dormitories, bickering all the way.

**_HPaCT_**

Unfortunately, getting back to the dormitories wasn't as easy as Harry hoped. It was his first week at Hogwarts, and he hadn't quit figured out where everything was. The fact that they had been wandering around all night only compounded the problem.

_**"LET'S GO THIS WAY."**_

"Rex, I'm pretty sure that isn't the way back. I don't think we even came down this corridor."

**_"TRUST ME, IT'S A SHORTCUT."_**

"Alright, if you say so..." Harry replied, before trying the door. "...It's locked."

_**"ARE YOU SURE?"**_

"Yeah. Pretty sure."

**_"NO PROBLEM."_**

"No problem? Why, do you have the key?" Harry asked.

Rex didn't reply with words, instead raising his fist. Harry had the good sense to move out of the way before Rex smashed the door.

"Give me a little warning next time Rex!" Harry shouted at his partner, clearly annoyed with Rex's method of unlocking doors.

_**"WHAT, IT'S OPEN, RIGHT?"**_

"Yeah, but you completely smashed it! What if we were being chased and needed to close it behind us?"

**_"I COULD CRUSH ANYTHING THAT CHASES AFTER US."_**

"That's not the point!"

_**"WHATEVER. YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS."**_

Harry stared at Rex in disbelief, "Fine, I'm jealous I can't smash doors like you can."

**_"I KNEW IT!"_** Rex crowed.

"Yes, you did, now let's get going before anyone wakes up."

_**"I THINK WE'RE A LITTLE TO LATE FOR THAT."**_

"What do you mean?"

**_"LOOK."_** Rex raised one of his massive claws, pointing across the room at the snarling beast Harry had somehow missed.

Harry stared in shock. Sure, he had seen more than his share of strange things, Rex was living proof of that, but this was something different. This was something straight out of legend.

Greek mythology was supposed to be just that, right?

Regardless, Harry was face to faces with a three headed dog, just like the guardian of the underworld.

The dog, not being nearly as surprised as Harry, roared, bounding across the room to attack the intruders. Unfortunately for the dog, it chose to go for Harry first.

The first rule about Monsters is never EVER attack their kid. It's the equivalent of attacking their mom, dad, brother, sister, son, daughter, and entire extended family, plus a few close friends. Rex's massive claws shot forward, wrapped around two of its burly necks, and hurled it across the room.

The dog struggled to its feet, before loosing a triad of howls at its attacker. Rex responded with a roar of his own, dwarfing the dog's in volume, and replacing saliva with dripping flames. Eerything about Rex screamed that he was bigger, badder, and had no problem eating his opponent alive.

The dog, recognizing the superior force, whimpered, before curling up on the floor and covering its heads with its massive paws.

Harry allowed himself a moment to relax, before noticing that Rex remained posed for battle, "Calm down Rex. He's not going to hurt us now."

_**"YOU SURE?"**_

"Yeah, he knows you'll beat him, with one claw behind your back." Harry affirmed, "I don't think that this is a shortcut. Let's try somewhere else."

**_"IN A MINUTE." _**Rex answered as a deranged grin, made even more terrifying by his deadly jaws, spread across his face.

"Rex?" Harry asked, noticing that Rex was still eying his cowed foe.

"Rex, you're not going to eat it, are you? Dumbledore warned us about this room, and I think he'll notice if his dog is missing." Harry said, hoping that his worst fears.

_**"DON'T BE STUPID, HARRY. I'M NOT GOING TO EAT IT."**_ Rex replied, causing Harry to sigh in relief.

**_"I'M GOING TO RIDE IT."_**

"You're going to... what?"

Rex didn't reply, instead moving forward to begin training the Cerberus.

_**"WHO'S A GOOD DOGGIE? YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE!"**_ Harry flinched at the sound of Rex's booming voice using babyspeak, before quickly leaving the room. There were some horrors that the world was not meant to experience, and Rex acting cute was one of them.

* * *

Well, this chapter makes this the longest story I've written on this site, as well as the first one over 20,000 words.

I'll probably redo this chapter somewhat, since there were a few bits I think need work or expansion. The main one is the twisting hallway, but there are probably a few other rough patches.

Anyways, hope you guys liked the chapter. See you around.


	7. Chapter 7

I'm back baby!

That's right, after over a year and a half, I finally wrote some more for Harry Potter and Childish Things, and it's not a chapter. That's right, it's THREE chapters! One for each day of the weekend. Think of it as an apology for taking so long, and a thank you for sticking with the story despite my apparent neglect.

For those of you who care, the main reason for the massive delay was work related. I finally managed to get two jobs, which, while good for paying bills, takes up a lot of time, and destroyed my desire to do anything besides sleep. It took awhile, but I think I finally managed to find a semi-decent balance between them and will hopefully be able to post at a reasonable rate, but as always, no promises.

So, without further delay, here is chapter seven of Haryr Potter and Childish Things. I hope you enjoy it.

**_Chapter Seven_**

Dear Annie,

So far, Hogwarts is basically the same as our school. Sure, we learn how to do magic instead of math and science, but most of the time it's still pretty boring. Heck, we still have History class, and it's even more boring here! I think that might be the reason it's taught by a ghost, so he doesn't bore himself to death.  
Anyways, what have you been doing? Has anything interesting happened since I left to Hogwarts?  
-Harry

"What're you doing Harry?" Ernie MacMillion asked, just as Harry finished his letter.

"Writing to a friend." Harry replied, "I promised her that I would write to her, and if I don't send this soon, she'll probably yell at me at Christmas. "

"Oh. Well, once you're finished with that, make sure to come down for lunch."

"'Course Ernie." Harry replied, before reviewing his letter. It was a good start, but he would have to do better if he was going to avoid Annabel's wrath come Christmas. Getting used to the magical world was difficult enough without Rex complicating things, but it had been nearly two months since he arrived at Hogwarts, and he still hadn't written her a single letter.

To be fair, keeping an eye on Rex was a full time job, especially since he developed a taste for student's nightmares. If Harry wasn't reigning him in at all times, Rex was likely to fill the Hospital Wing up with insane students. Compounding that issue was his House's work ethic. Harry found himself nearly forced into various study groups, or dragged along for social events, ranging from reading in the library to playing on the Quidditch field. Harry didn't dislike it. In fact, he even enjoyed it, but it did make doing other activities, like writing letters, substantially more difficult.

"Do you think she'd believe me if I said you lost the mail?" Harry asked Hedwig, who glared at him, hooted indignantly, and bit his finger.

"Ow! Sorry, you know I didn't mean it, right?" Harry apologized, over Rex's laughter. Harry shot a glare at his hidden companion, and did his best to keep his annoyance in check. Rex in Hogwarts was a recipe for trouble. He was always sneaking off exploring, demand tribute from the house elves, or "training" his new pet, which consisted mainly of him roaring commands and the Cerberus meekly obeying. With all of the trouble Rex caused, it was a wonder Harry had any time for sleep!

Well, at least the Halloween feast was something to look forward to. Just one more class and a few more hours until it began, and if there was anything Harry had learned during his time in the wizarding world, it was that wizards loved to go overboard.

Harry's expectations were not disappointed. No surprise given how Halloween was the holiday most suited to a magical world. The Halloween Feast was a grand affair, on par with the Welcoming Feast. The various holiday themed decorations, along with a little assistance, created an atmosphere that truly embodied the spirit of the night. Sadly, no one seemed interesting in dressing up like muggles did, despite the advantage would provide such thing.

Unfortunately, the festive atmosphere was ruined, as a flustered Professor Quirrel burst into the Great Hall.

"Troll... in the dungeons... thought somebody ought to know..." Quirrel managed to say, with out stuttering, surprisingly, before collapsing. The Great Hall erupted into an uproar, before the teachers began to quell the panic. During the confusion, Harry managed to sneak off to a deserted hallway, to consult with Rex.

_**"SO, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?"**_

Harry frowned thoughtfully, "Well, you haven't driven anyone insane lately, and you've been letting me get some actual schoolwork done without bugging me... Plus you've been pretty good about your feeding habits too."

**_"YEAH, BUT SCARING THOSE SNAKES FOR THEIR DREAMS ISN'T VERY ENTERTAINING ANYMORE."_**

"So how about you go have some fun with the troll?"

_**"REALLY?"**_

"If you promise to behave, then I'll let you go fight the troll."

His partner didn't reply, but cackled madly.

Harry's eyes widened, "Just don't let anyone else get hurt!" he muttered urgently. "If you do that then you can't eat dreams for a month!"

**_"AW... ARE YOU SURE? IT WORKED OUT ALRIGHT WITH SNAPE..."_**

"I'm serious."

**_"FINE..."_** Rex replied, sounding like a petulant child more than an eldritch horror it was. As Harry was dragged along to the Tower, his best friend wandered into the depth of Hogwarts in search of its prey. Harry watched him go for a moment, before one of the prefects noticed him and dragged him over to the rest of the Hufflepuffs. As they departed, harry couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go horribkly wrong.

Than again, this was Rex we were talking about. it would be strange if he _didn't_ have that feeling.

**HPaCT**

Hermione stared in horror, unable to believe that the Troll staring at her was there. She had already experienced the last day of her life, but it seemed that the universe intended for it to be her last day as well. As it raised its club to smash her, she couldn't to anything but watch in dumb horror.

The Troll roared, and she flinched, expecting the club to fall on her and crush the brains she was so proud of. When the expected agony followed shortly by death didn't happen, she opened her eyes, wondering why she was still alive.

She immediately wished she hadn't.

Something else was in the bathroom. Something far, far worse than the Troll. The fact that it was fighting the Troll did nothing to mitigate its nightmarish presence. For a brief moment, Hermione hoped that she could use the distraction to sneak by them and escape, but that hope was short lived.

It was obvious that the Troll was no match for this thing. Withing seconds, it was bleeding heavily from gashes all over its body. Consumed by rage, the Troll swung its club at the monster, only to scream in pain as the monster shrugged off the blow, and began to merrily consumed the proffered arm. Once it was finished with the arm, it continued its gruesome meal, accompanied by a symphony of screams as the Troll was eaten alive.

All too soon, its meal finished, and the creature turned to look at the paralyzed Hermione, and flashed a terrifying grin, filled with more teeth and fangs than it should be able to hold.

**_"HI."_**

Hermione managed an almost inaudible shriek, before collapsing unconscious.

**_HPaCT_**

_**"HEY HARRY."**_

Harry looked up from his book, relieved that Rex had waited until things had calmed down and everyone had gone to sleep. A few other times he hadn't been as lucky, leading to awkward and unorthodox deflections.

"Did you have a good time?"

**_"OH YEAH."_** Rex grinned, before launching into a gruesome retelling of his conquest of the invading troll, complete with gestures and a poor imitation of the troll screaming like a little girl, which was further ruined by Rex's booming voice. Harry chuckled, returning to his book while Rex recounted his exploits, until a the story took an unexpected turn.

**_"SO AFTER I ATE THE TROLL, I NOTICED THIS LITTLE GUY LYING ON THE FLOOR. SINCE YOU HAVE HEDWIG TO KEEP YOU COMPANY WHEN YOU CAN'T HANG OUT WITH ME, I GOT SOMETHING TO KEEP ME COMPANY!"_**

Harry hesitated, knowing that he didn't want to know the answer, before asking the necessary question, "What are you talking about?"

Rex's grin grew wider, before he pulled the unconscious form of Hermione from behind his back. Harry stared in shocked silence, which Rex took to be an indication to continue.

**_"I'M GONNA CALL HER MRS. SQUEAKERDOODLE, OR SQUEAKLES FOR SHORT."_**

"Y-you can't keep her as a pet!" Harry spluttered.

**_"WHY NOT? I ALREADY GOT HER A CAGE, AND I'LL FEED HER AND HUG HER AND LOVER HER FOREVER AND EVER."_**

"She's a human being!"

**_"AND I'M A MONSTER. I'M NOT SEEING A PROBLEM HERE."_**

As they argued back in forth, the girl in question began to regain consciousness. Needless to say, once she saw she was in the clutches of an eldritch abomination, she screamed.

**_"SQUEAKLES! BE QUIET!"_** Rex commanded, terrifying her into silence. **_"SEE? SHE ALREADY LISTENS TO ME!"_**

"She's listening to you because she thinks you're going to eat her!"

**_"THAT'S NOT TRUE, IS IT SQUEAKLES?"_** Rex said, turning to look at his new friend. Hermione remained silent, choosing instead to nod fearfully, instinct directing her to agree with whatever the monstrosity said.

"Rex, put her down."

**_"BUT HARRY..."_**

"Put. Her. Down." Harry commanded, sounding like a scolding parent.

Sighing in defeat, Rex set the terrified girl down, who immediately ran to hid behind Harry.

"See?"

**_"THAT DOESN'T PROVE ANYTHING. SHE JUST WANTS TO GET TO KNOW YOU. YOU KNOW HOW PETS ARE WITH NEW PEOPLE."_**

"Rex, just go up to my room for now."

**_"FINE...JUST DON'T LET HER SNIFF YOUR BUTT. PETS DO THAT SOMETIMES YOU KNOW."_**

The instant Rex vanished from sight. Hermione collapsed in relief, curling up in a ball and rocking herself back and forth. Internally, Harry sighed to himself. It was going to be an awkward night.

**_HPaCT_**

After Rex left, Harry was faced with the task of dragging the catatonic girl up to his dorm. While he was a bit worried about his roommates, nothing he or Rex had done had any effects on the deep sleepers, and it was better than someone stumbling upon them in the common room. Rex had already shrunk down to his benign form, a habit which had taken far too long for Harry to cultivate.

By the time Hermione woke up from her catatonic state, Harry had managed to get the specific details about what exactly had happened from Rex. This helped immensely, as Hermione reaction was to say everything that had happen as quickly as possible, as if voicing the events would erase them from history. Harry managed to endure the onslaught of words, until she finally finished.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Alright? Alright? I've been attacked by a troll, watched it get eaten alive, and got kidnapped by a dinosaur, who wants to keep me as his pet! Do you THINK I'm alright?" Hermione yelled at the top of her lungs, directing all of her terror into indignant fury.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"What WAS that thing anyways?" she asked, her more inquisitive side making an appearance now that she had a chance to vent.

"Well, it's kind of a long story..." Harry said, trying to figure out how to explain just what Rex was to someone who had never encountered a monster before. With Annie, it had been easy, since she already had her own, but Hermione was just a normal girl. Sure, she was a witch, but apparently, monsters were something outside of the realm of wizardry. Fortunately, before Harry could get too caught up in trying to figure out the best way to explain it, Hermione shook him.

"Well?"

"Rex is... my partner. He's always around, and always willing to help me out, even if I sometimes don't want him to." Harry began, struggling to find the appropriate words.""

"That's all well and good, but what is he?"

"I honestly don't know." Harry responded, "One day he was just there, and that's all that really mattered."

"There must be some sort of book about it. Hogwarts has one of the most extensive libraries in the wizarding world, and something like him MUST have shown up sometime!"

"Well, I haven't seen any books about anything like him while I've been here."

"Have you been looking?" Hermione asked imperiously.

"Well, no..."

"Well maybe if you put some effort into it, you would have found something by now! You're a Hufflepuff, so you should act like it!"

"It's just never really been a problem. Rex being around was more than enough. I never needed to know more than that."

"What's the point of studying to be a wizard if you're not going to learn anything?" she shouted, before standing up to leave.

"Could you do me a favor? Please don't tell anyone about Rex."

"And why would I do that? He big, and dangerous, and terrifying! How did you even get him into the school in the first place?"

"He saved your life!"

"That's all well and good," Hermione admitted, "but the fact remains that this is the sort of thing that the teachers need to know about. First thing in the morning, I'm going to Professor McGonagall." With that, Hermione all but stormed out of the tower, her previous fear replaced with righteous indignation at Harry's apparent disregard for the safety of the students.

Harry sat for a few minutes, before Rex wandered back into the room, curious about the sudden silence.

**_"so, what happened harry?"_**Rex spoke up from his bed.

"She's going to tell McGonagall about you tomorrow." Harry sighed, turning to face his friend.

**_"don't worry about it harry, no one believed snape about me. they'll probably just put her in the st. mumbo's for a few weeks while they repair her fragile human mind."_**

"I know, but I don't want that to happen to her. I wish there was something we could to keep her out of the loony bin."

"well, there's not much we can do about that now, but who know? maybe she'll get lucky."

"Yeah...maybe..." Harry responded, doubting the words even as they left his lips.


	8. Chapter 8

You'd think that I wouldn't need notes since I'm publishing these three days in a a row, but I almost forgot. In an effort to keep this from drifting out of my mind, I just a a Harry Potter and Childish Things Forum so you guys can discuss your thoughts on this fic, as well as provide a place for me to pos random things that really don;t fit well with the story, either because they're a bit too silly, or aren't related to the story where it is now.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

**Chapter Eight**

Dear Annie,

Rex has been making problems again, though that's not much of a surprise. He tried to 'adopt' one of the other students, and it seems to have gone... badly, to say the least. She went to tell the teachers, but I haven't seen her since. Granted, I don't have many classes with her, but still...

Anyways, how is Homer doing? I know he and Rex don't really get along too well, but Rex seems like he misses him a bit.

Hope you're doing well,

Harry

Harry sighed as he sent his letter. Hermione had been gone for a week, and no one seemed to know where she had disappeared to. None of the students seemed to really care, and the professors were all tight lipped about the subject. Rex, despite being the catalyst of the entire situation, was completely clueless, though that wasn't surprising at all.

Still, Harry couldn't help but feel that he bore at least some responsibility for what had happened, if only for bringing Rex with him to Hogwarts.

But what could he do? No one was saying anything, either out of ignorance or duty, so how would he find out what had happened? Ironically, the solution was the same as the problem.

Rex.

"Rex, do you know what happened to Hermione?"

**_"NOPE."_**

"Really?" Harry asked skeptically, "You seemed really interested in her before she disappeared. Are you sure you didn't kidnap her?"

**_"COURSE I'M SURE. SHE'S PROBABLY AT THE DOCTOR OR SOMETHING WHILE THEY FIX HER BRAIN."_**

"I checked the infirmary, and she's not there. Now one is saying anything about what happened to her."

**_"DON'T THEY HAVE A CONFIDENCY POLICY ABOUT THAT? BETWEEN DOCTORS AND PATIENTS?"_**

"Yeah... but no one seems to know what happened"

**_"SO, I CAN DO ANYTHING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED?"_**

Harry hesitated, "No. I remember what happens when I let you do that. Things tend to blow up."

**_"BUT HOW WILL WE FIND SQUEAKLES?"_**

"Carefully. We'll do this very carefully."

**_"..WE STILL GET TO BREAK THINGS, RIGHT?"_**

"Yeah, if we have to, but I think it would be better to get some help on this."

**_"FROM WHO?"_** Rex inquired.

Harry's brow furrowed in thought, before he remembered a pair of troublemakers they had met a few months back. He hadn't seen them since, but maybe their offer to show him around still stood. The only issue was how to find them...

**HPaCT**

Harry and Rex made their way to the kitchens, where they once again were loaded with more food than they could handle. Rex was offered up another hapless child, who thrashed and whimpered in their sleep as Rex greedily devoured their innermost fears.

As Rex feasted upon his victim, Harry idly munched on a sandwich, keeping his eyes on the entrance, waiting for the twins to appear. He didn't have to wait long. Roughly half an hour later, he heard the faint giggling of the pear on the other side, and with a sharp look, directed Rex to take his more benign appearance.

The twins entered in the same overly dramatic manner as the first time, causing harry to grin.

"Well well well, brother mine, if it isn't ickle potter."

"Indeed it is, back where we first met for the first time in ages." the other twin responded, eying up the diminutive first year.

"So what brings you here after your long absence, Harry dearest?"

Harry drew in a breath, "I need your help."

"Help?"

"Help with what?"

"There's a girl.." Harry began, only to be cut off by the duo.

"A bit early for interest in the fairer sex, wouldn't you say brother?" one of the twins said, eying his counterpart.

"It's not like that!" Harry protested, cutting off the thread before it could spiral out of control. "It's Hermione Granger. She's been missing for a week, and no one seems to know what happened to her, or if they do know, they're not saying anything."

"Student Teacher confidentiality." One of them said, to which the other nodded in agreement. "Professors are notoriously tight lipped when it comes to their students."

"Particularly when they're in trouble." the other chimed in. "Well, more trouble than usual."

"Only option in that situation is to get the information straight from the horse's mouth."

"Or in this case, the teacher's files."

"Can you help me?" Harry asked dizzily, having difficulty keeping up with their rapid exchange.

As one, the twins grinned, "A chance to corrupt the hero of the wizarding world? How can we refuse?"

"Let's just say that you owe us one, to be collect at a later time."

"Fine, but before we do anything else, there's something I need to know." Harry said in his most serious voice, "Which one of you is which?"

At this, the twins only grinned.

**HPaCT**

Harry followed Fred... or was it George? Up the tower, supposedly towards Professor McGonagall's office.

"And here we are!"

Harry stared in disbelief. He couldn't believe that Professor McGonagall's office was hidden behind a painting of flocking nymphs. The nymphs peered out at their audience, giggled lightly, and began preening before the appreciative twins and the bewildered Boy-Who-Lived.

"Er.. let's get in before the lovely ladies decide to put on a show for our young friend." one of the twins said, shaking off

"Why does Professor McGonagall have a painting like that in front of her office?"

"Honestly, we don't know."

"I like to think she playing a joke on everyone."

"Or she wants to be left alone. No one would look for her office behind something like this."

"Maybe she's a cougar."

"What's a cougar?" Harry asked, causing the exchange to abruptly stop.

"Anyways, what was the password again?"

"Snape sucks slimy scrotums?"

"Nope."

"Pity. You'd think she'd choose something like that, given how much grief Snape gave Gryffindor's over the years."

"Well, let's just check with our most valuable possession."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked as the twins hunched over, peering at something.

"That's not something for ickle firsties to know. Maybe when you grow up a bit, we'll show you."

"Tigress?" one of the twins asked, as the laughter of the nymphs grew louder and the portrait swung outward.

"Who would have thought of that? that?"

The inside of McGonagall's office wasn't all that different from her classroom, everything well organized, well maintained, and kept exactly where they belonged.

This did not mean it was easy to find for someone unfamiliar with her organization system.

So the trio searched through the large collection of files and folders, past assignments, past students, it seemed as if every single scrap of paper that had ever been used in Hogwarts was stored here somewhere. The three boys diligently dug through the piles of paperwork, slowly discerning the underlying pattern, moving ever closer to their goal.

Not to say there weren't some distractions...

"While we're up here, do you think that Angelina would appreciate me bumping up a few of her grades? She's been griping about how that A on her paper is going to bring down her grade in Transfiguration."

"She'll probably just hit you for it. Just take care of your own grades, brother mine."

Finally, it seemed that they had finally found the right collection of files.

"So, who are we looking for again?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Granger... isn't that the name of the girl Ron's always complaining about?" George inquired.

"I do believe you're right. He has be suspiciously quiet about her lately... I guess we know why now. She hasn't been around to bother him."

"Ah, here we go... it seems that our Miss Granger is currently... oh my..."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"She's been sent to St. Mungo's Psychiatric Ward for treatment."

"Treatment for what?"

"Mental damage as a result of Dark Magic use..."

"Dark Magic from a first year? That's nutters!"

"It's what it says. And from what Ron said, she's scary smart. Smart enough to learn a few things she shouldn't."

As the Twins discussed their discovery, Harry's stomach sank a bit, realizing what had likely happened.

"We can't just leave her there we have to do something." Harry said decisively.

"Break into St. Mungo's are you mad?"

"Well, it would make for a rather exciting adventure brother dear. Save the damsel in distress is a classic tale."

"But a little girl like her? Where's the romance in that? Now Angelina or Alicia, sure... but a firstie?"

"You guys have done enough. I can handle it from here." Harry spoke up.

"Oh? And just how do you think you'll manage that Mr. Potter?" one of the twins asked.

"You've got your secrets, and I've got mine." Harry couldn't resist a small smile at their dumbfounded expressions, "Maybe some day we can share them all."

**HPaCT**

"Alright Rex, you know what you have to do, right?"

**_"PRETTY SURE, YEAH."_**

Harry sighed, "Tell me what you're going to do, so I know you're don't mess up."

**_"COME ON HARRY, YOU CAN TRUST ME, RIGHT?"_**

"Only when I can see you, and only most of the time." "Harry replied without missing a beat."

Rex sighed, _**"I GO INTO THE HOSPITAL, FIND SQUEAKLES, AND BRING HER BACK TO HER ROOM."**_

"Good."

**_"AND MAIM OR KILL ANYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY."_**

"No. No. No." Harry reprimanded, smacking his friend lightly on the nose, "You just get her out of there. No maiming, no killing, nothing else."

**_"WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT?"_**

"This isn't supposed to be fun. It's a mission. In and out. That's all."

_**"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT..."**_ Rex growled, earning a look of disapproval form his partner.

"If you do this right, you can torment whoever you like when you get back."

**_"REALLY?"_** Rex exclaimed, his tail thrashing wildly.

Harry grimaced, already regretting the offer, "Yeah. Sure, but only one person."

**_"SEE YOU IN A BIT HARRY!"_**

**HPaCT**

St. Mungo's Psychiatric Ward

Hermione thrashed against her bonds, struggling to escape from her bed at St. Mungo's. She didn't understand why they wouldn't believe her. Did they really think she killed that troll? That she knew magic dark enough to tear it limb from limb? That she harvested its remains? That was crazy. She couldn't do something like that. She followed the rule,s she listened to her elders, she did everything right.

So why did everyone think she was insane?

Day after day, she was forced to drink innumerable potions of various effects, felt the Mid Healers peer into her head, and see every secret, every little detail about her life.

It was violating.

As horrifying at it was, it was worse that despite reading her mind, they still didn't believe her. They thought the monster from her memories was a representation of Dark Magic beyond her control, warping her psyche with its twisted influence.

But it was real! The monster was real, and it followed Harry Potter around wherever he went!

Speaking on which...

**_"HI THERE SQUEAKLES. HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?"_** Hermione recoiled at the sound of that inhuman voice, the source of her current predicament.

"Go away. Go away. Goawaygoawaygoawaygoaway..." Hermione muttered under he breath, trying to ignore the monstrosity before her.

**_"IS THAT ANYWAY TO TALK TO DEAR OLD REX SQUEAKLES? AFTER I CAME SO FAR TO VISIT YOU?"_**

"You're not real. You're not real. Notrealnotrealnotrealnotreal!" Hermione chanted, trying to will her declaration into truth, hoping against hope that she truly was insane, and that the monster before her was just a figment of her twisted imagination.

**_"NOT A VERY NICE THING TO SAY SQUEAKLES. AND HERE I WAS, COMING TO TAKE YOU BACK TO HOGWARTS."_**

"You're lying. You're lying. There's no way you would help me. You're the reason I'm trapped here!" Hermione shouted, hoping that it would draw the attention of the Healers.

**_"NOW NOW SQUEAKLES... IT'S NOT VERY NICE TO SAY THINGS LIEK THAT TO ME WHEN I CAME ALL THIS WAY. UNLESS YOU WANT TO STAY HERE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE."_**

Hermione hesitated, thinking about spending the rest of her life here, weighing it against the unknown offered by the beast before her. Considering what she had experienced over the last week, it wasn't a hard choice.

"Fine, just get me out of here!" Hermione said harshly, her voice once again raising out of fear and desperation.

Rex;s jaws widened into a horrifying grin, as his claws shredded her restrains. The instant her limbs were free, Hermione flinched away from him, instinctive terror taking hold of her.

Rex stared at her for a moment, giving her a moment to process her terror, before picking the frightened girl up, examining her.

**_"KEEP IN MIND SQUEAKLES, I'M NOT GOING TO DO THIS AGAIN IF YOU KEEP MAKING TROUBLE. UNDERSTAND?"_**

"I get it." Hermione replied. "As long as I don't make trouble, you'll try to keep me out of places like this, right?"

**_"UH... ACTUALLY, I JUST MEANT I WOULDN'T DO THIS AGAIN, BUT I LIKE WHAT YOU SAID BETTER._**" Rex responded, **_"YOU SHOULD HANG OUT WITH HARRY SOME MORE TOO SQUEAKLES. HE CAN EXPLAIN THINGS A BIT BETTER THAN ME."_**

Hermione nodded, and repressed the urge to scream as reality tore itself apart and devoured her whole.

When she woke up in her room. She resisted the urge to run as far and fast as she could, resisted the urge to tell everyone she saw what happened. Instead, she curled up under the covers, and did her best to forget the horrors of her recent past.

She failed utterly.

**HPaCT**

The next day, a far more subdued Hermione made her way to the library, and buried herself in her books, trying her best to forget the horrors of the past week. While it didn't fix anything, reading and research proved to be a wonderful distraction.

"Hi." Hermione glanced up, and almost flinched at seeing Harry's face.

"Is it alright if I sit down? Maybe we can talk?' He asked, to which she slowly nodded. As soon as he sat down, she scooted her chair as far away from him as possible without leaving the table, causing Harry to sigh.

"I'm sorry about Rex. He's... difficult to handle sometimes."

"That's a bit of an understatement." Hermione retorted.

**_"that's not very nice."_** A new voice called out from Harry's bag, causing Hermione to freeze up as she recognized it.

"He's here?" Hermione almost shrieked, causing the librarian to glare at them from across the room.

"Well, I can't just leave him alone. Think of the trouble he could cause!"

"You have to tell an adult about this! You can't just have a monster following you around! It's not normal!"

_**"hey!"**_ Rex protested from Harry's bag, causing Hermione to flinch away.

Harry sighed, "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but people generally don't do so well after meeting Rex. My science teacher went insane after seeing him for the first time. And it seems Professor Snape suffered a breakdown after Rex saw him picking on me."

"You mean he's the one that put Snape in St. Mungo's? He was raving about...that THING?"

**_"i'm not a thing! i'm an awesome dinosaur of awesomeness!"_**

"Shush Rex."

_**"but harry!"**_

"I said shush!"

**_"fine..."_** Rex grumbled, and a few moments later, a steady, faint snoring came from Harry's bag. Hermione visibly relaxed, though she still kept a wary eye on his book bag.

"So... what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked.

"To be honest... you." Harry admitted. "It's going to be a bit strange that your back... so we need to figure out how to explain it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, people don't just walk out of the loony bin every day, do they? Won't it be a bit odd that you're back?"

"I suppose... they must keep records about patients and treatments like a muggle hospital... Oh God." Hermione exclaimed, starting to hyperventilate, "They'll come to take me back. They'll put me in a straightjacket and drag me back in front of the whole school. This will go on my permanent record and then I'll never get into a good wizarding college!"

"Do wizards even have college?"

"This is no time to worry about that! My life is falling apart before my eyes! You got me into this mess, so you had better fix it!"

"We... may be able to fix it..." Harry said hesitantly,

"What? How?" Hermione demanded, a glint of madness in her eye.

"Well..."

From Harry's bag, Rex let out a yawn that despite its low volume filled Hermione with dread. Peeking his head out, he gave her a nightmarish grin.**_ "sounds like we're going on a whirlwind adventure squeakles."_**

Hermione resisted the urge to cry.


	9. Chapter 9

Somehow, I managed to have author's notes for all three chapters. Not really sure how i managed that... Probably because I gave myself time to think up stuff between postings.

Anyways, the Forum should be up now. For some reason it doesn't seem to be putting a link on my profile, so here it is.

http:/ forum. fanfiction. net/ forum /Harry_Potter_and_Childish_Things_Discussion_Forum /106701

Or hopefully just using 106701 will work too.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the third chapter this weekend, and that Daylight Savings time didn't screw you over.

**HPaCT**

Dear Mum and Dad,

Sorry for not writing to you for awhile. School has been somewhat hectic for the last week, so I haven't had a chance to write to you. Classes have really started to pick up, and I think we're going to start working on projects soon, so forgive me if I get caught up and forget to write you again. I hope you are both doing well, since I know you get a lot of appointments after Halloween.

Oh, I almost forgot! I finally made a friend here at Hogwarts. His name is Harry, and though he's a bit strange, even for a wizard, he's really nice. Maybe I can introduce you to him when the holiday's come around.

Anyways, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I need to get to class. I promise to write to you again soon!

Love,

Hermione.

"You know this is illegal, right? Right?" Hermione asked, clinging desperately to Harry as they rode Rex through nightmarish realms. "You can't just break into a government run hospital! You'll do jail time!"

**_"NO MORTAL CAGE CAN HOLD THE ALMIGHTY REX!"_**

"I think she was talking to me buddy."

**_"OH. WELL, I'D BREAK YOU OUT IF YOU GOT ARRESTED HARRY."_**

"See? No problem!"

"YES! BIG PROBLEM!" Hermione shrieked, but her cries went unheeded as they arrived at their destination. It had been less than a day since Hermione had been "rescued" from St. Mungo's, making it just over a week since she was introduced to Rex. Just over a week since her world was shattered, and the remains were pieced together in a sick caricature of what it used to be, twisted in to a disturbing, deformed whole.

And here she was, riding the source of all that madness, back into the asylum he had sentenced her to.

They crept their way through St. Mungo's quickly making their way back towards the psychiatric wing. The sounds of their approached was masked by the noise of the patients, their mutterings, moans, screams and sobs all masked their footsteps as they moved closer to their goal.

Rex of course, was the exception to this. Discontent with his smaller incarnation, he reveled in the dark majesty of his true form, despite the difficulties that came along with it. His thundering footsteps and thrashing tail drowned out even the fiercest cries of the residents of St. Mungo's. It was no surprise that it drew some unwanted attention.

"What should we do? Hermione asked as they crouched against the wall, trying to avoid the gaze of the confused Healer.

_**"DON'T WORRY. I GOT THIS."**_ Rex answered their concerns, turning to face the curious care provider. The Healer stared in disbelief at the creature that towered over him, Rex's eye began to glow in anticipation, and the last vestiges of hope for the unfortunate Healer vanished with the rising malevolent light.

The screams echoed through the halls, merging with the cries and muttering of the insane, as another person joined their ranks. Rex merely grinned, and savored the psychic meal the Healer had provided him. Harry sighed in mild irritation, while Hermione once again used him as a human shield.

With the main obstacle... dealt with, reaching the patient files.

"I think I found it." Harry called out, examining the folder before him, "Hermione Granger, a first year muggleborn attending Hogwarts, was admitted after exposure to extremely powerful dark magic of an unknown origin. It seems the Miss Granger had been reading forbidden tomes that corrupted her mind, resulting in an astonishing rate of descent into the Dark Arts. It is believed that Miss Granger used the Dark Arts to attack and kill a troll that had wandered into the castle, and that she may have consumed some of its body as a side affect of the corruption of her mind. It appears that her young mind was unable to handle the strain of the Dark Arts, resulting in a psychological split between her primary personality, and the part of her mind that used the Dark Arts, resulting in the development of a second personality. We have yet to directly interact with this new personality, but Miss Granger has repeatedly referred to it as 'Rex...'" Harry read aloud, staring at the reports the Healers had filed. It seemed mostly it was speculation about the source of Hermione's apparent breakdown, and what aspects of the Dark Arts she had studied.

"Let me see that!" Hermione demanded, snatching the folder from the dark haired boy. Her eyes grew wider as she read through the file, until it seemed as if they would burst out of her skull if they continued.

"Give me a pen Harry." Hermione ordered, abruptly slamming the folder shut. Wordlessly, he handed her one, and she began to write furiously, filling out a new sheet of paper with the details of her miraculous "recovery" and her subsequent release from St. Mungo's. It took only a few minutes for her to complete it, now they just had to hope that it was enough to persuade both the Healers and the Teachers.

They quickly vacated the premises, and Rex tore open another rift back to Hogwarts. Once more, Hermione shut her eyes as tight as she could, and held Harry so tightly that he began to lose feeling in his limbs. Soon enough, they were back at Hogwarts, and the rift in reality sealed behind them.

Harry looked around, making sure no one had seen their arrival, before turning to look at Hermione. She was obviously trembling, but significantly less than the previous night. Harry awkwardly tried to think of the right thing to say to her, but given the unusual circumstances, he could be forgiven for a less than stellar choice.

"So... we'll talk some more tomorrow night?" Harry asked uncertainly, "We really haven't gotten a chance to discuss everything since you found out about... well, everything..."

Hermione stared at him in disbelief, causing the young boy to redden. "Never mind. I guess you just want to put this behind you... Makes sense I guess. I'll just be going now."

"Wait!" Hermione protested, desperately trying to get her thoughts together. "I guess... we could meet up tomorrow night..." She said, "Would the library be alright?"

Harry relaxed, "The library sounds fine. So I guess I'll see you then?"

"Y-yeah. See you tomorrow." Hermione replied, and the young Boy-Who-Lived left with his nightmarish companion safely tucked away.

Hermione stood there for a long moment after he left, even after all the recent events, unable to wrap her mind around what was happening to her life.

**HPaCT**

The next day was incredibly awkward for Hermione. Yesterday she had mostly stayed out of the way, but now, everyone knew she was back, and the Hogwarts rumor mill had been hard at work. No one really knew anything for sure, but that was what made the rumors thrive.

Pretending to read her book in the common room, Hermione heard the whispers. Rumors ranging from her being half-dragon, to a Dark Witch, even the daughter of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. At first she thought it strange that it was so easy to hear them, but Gryffindors weren't renown for their subtlety.

Still, they didn't even try to keep their voices down. She was right there!

Walking through the halls was a new experience as well. Before people either ignored her or mocked her. Now, they ignored her or avoided her, and in one case, ran away screaming.

Hermione's eyes widened as she saw her Head of House walking towards her, before quickly ducking her head an increasing her pace. If anyone was to see the truth, it was Professor McGonagall, and even if she didn't Hermione wasn't sure she could keep herself from blurting it out to her. The best course of action was to avoid her as best she could, until she got used

"Ms. Granger?" The professor asked, trying to determine if the young Gryffindor was actual before her.

Drat.

"Did they release you from St. Mungo's already?" McGongall asked, looking over her favorite student.

Hermione froze, her natural instincts to tell the truth warred with the new facts of her existence. She struggled valiantly against twelve years of respecting authority and honesty, trying to do the right thing and lie through her teeth.

"Um... yes. I guess so." Hermione managed to say, "I don't really remember much since Halloween. Everything is kind of a blur to me."

McGonagall frowned, causing the young girl to sweat, fearful that her deception would be uncovered, "Well, I suppose that's only to be expected. After the trauma you suffered, it might be for the best that you don't remember."

"If you say so professor." Hermione agreed, "I had better get to class."

"Yes, that would be best Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall replied, before moving on to her own class.

Classes were somewhat better. While the rest of the students were wary of her, the professors seemed to be a bit more normal. She didn't know if it was because they knew she was alright, thanks to St. Mungo's files, or at least, what she had written in St. Mungo's files, or if they were confident they could deal with any "outbursts" she might have.

Still, it was a great deal more uncomfortable than she was used to, and for the first time in her life, Hermione found herself cutting class.

'It's ridiculous,' Hermione thought to herself, 'I'm probably the only person who skips class to go to the library.'

At least Madame Pince left her alone, aside from her typical glare at her silence being disturbed. Hermione was allowed to peruse the various books and tomes in Hogwarts' library without disturbance. For the first time, she actually had an opportunity to think about what had happened to her, without monsters or doctors looming over her shoulder.

She spent a lot of time thinking.

**HPaCT**

It was with great trepidation that Hermione found herself meeting up with Rex and Harry. While Harry seemed friendly enough, Rex was still terrifying. Hermione managed to keep her shivers in check, but couldn't help but flinch whenever he moved or spoke. It was like being in the same room as a rabid dog. You knew it was only a matter of time before it turned on you.

Harry seemed to pick up on her distress, because shortly after she arrived, he turned to Rex, "I think you'd better hide for now."

**_"AW... BUT WHY?"_**

"There are too many people in the halls this early. Prefects, Teachers, and we'll probably run into the Twins at some point. It'll be much less trouble if you don't walk around driving people insane."

**_"BUT HARRY..."_**

"Rex..." Harry intoned, clearly warnign Rex that he was in dangerous territory.

_**"...FINE..."**_ Rex sighed, shrinking down into his stuffed form.

"So... he can just do that whenever?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Yeah, but he doesn't enjoy it. Says it's like putting on clothes that are a few sizes too small."

"I see..." Hermione considered, her analytical mind taking hold, pushing her primal fear to the back of her head. "I wonder if Mumblus the Mad's theories of spatial distortion could be applied to explain that..."

"Hermione? Are you still here?"

"Hm? Oh I'm sorry. Just got caught up in my thoughts."

"Right... let's head to the kitchen. I think a bit of food would be good for you."

"Well, I have been avoiding the Great Hall..."

It was only a short trip to the kitchens, and an even shorter wait for the elves to bring them something. Hermione was utterly fascinated that there were hidden rooms through out the castle, and seemed enamored with discovering each and every one of Hogwarts secrets.

"Just think! The fact that rooms like this are secret means there could be dozens of places like this that have been completely forgotten! I haven't discovered anything resembling a blueprint for Hogwarts, and if secret rooms reply solely on word of mouth, it's no surprise that places were lost! Think of all the things we could learn! We could find one of Ravenclaw's studies, Slytherin's Labs!"

"Sure..." Harry replied, a little put of by her manic disposition. "Why don't you have a bite to eat?"

Hermione nodded frantically, remembering her manners enough to stop talking.

**_"so can i get something to eat too?"_**

"No children tonight Rex. You'll drive Hermione mad." Harry replied, seeing Hermione nearly choke at Rex's request.

**_'but harry...'_**

"baby steps Rex. Why don't you have some meat? I'm sure the elves would get you something."

**_"fine, but it's just not the same..."_** Rex grumbled, nonetheless leaping out of the bag to feast.

"He... he east children?" Hermione asked in a whisper, as if Rex would eat her if her overheard.

"Not exactly. He gives them nightmares and eats those. He has the elves bring them here so it doesn't cause too much trouble. The worst they have is a bad night's sleep, and Rex tends to behave better after he's eaten."

Hermione nodded, not quite convinced by Harry's response, choosing to reserve judgement until she saw it for herself, hopefully some day far, far in the future. Cautiously, she began eating again, before her hunger caught up with her and she resumed her furious pace.

It was disturbingly adorable, to see a miniature dinosaur feasting on a meal larger than he was. Harry took a moment to watch his two companions fill their bellies, before resuming their conversation.

"So, I take it you're interested in joining us with our explorations?"

Hermione began to reply, before remembering he rmanners and settling for a vigorous nod. Harry grinned, and stodo up, gesturing to Rex that it was time to go.

**_"hey, can you guys bring me some more meat later?"_**

"Of course Master Rex sir! Just call for Pinky and Blinky and we will be happy to bring you some more!"

**_"great, great..."_**

"Rex, do you really think you'll need more food"

**_"well if you're not going to let me devour the dreams of the innocent, i might as well fill my belly with meat. besides, I don't need to eat much now because i'm little. when i get big again, i'll have more room."_**

"I guess that makes sense... Are you ready to go now?"

**_"yeah."_**

"Hermione?"

"Ready Harry." She replied, the excitement of the discovery of the century temporarily overcoming her fears.

**_HPaCT_**

Hermione quickly realized that searching for hidden rooms wasn't as exciting as her books and the Indiana Jones movies made it out to be, though to be fair, they had the advantage of at least vaguely knowing what they were looking for. She and Harry were just blindly searching for something that may or may not exist. The issue was further compounded by the fact that Hogwarts was filled with odd quirks, so any discoveries they made could easily just be something they hadn't encountered before.

It was made worse by Rex's attempts to 'help' which consisted of offers to punch holes in walls. No matter how many times both Harry and Hermione told him not to, he kept on trying. Hermione had a sinking feeling that sometime in the near future, Hogwarts would need some remodeling. Hopefully Harry would keep it to a minimum.

Still, for all the problems, it was the most fun Hermione had had in a long time. Granted, that could be due to the fact that she recently escaped from an insane asylum, but even discounting that little detail, it was a far more enjoyable time than any before in Hogwarts.

"Well, it's gotten really late. I think I'd better head back to Gryffindor Tower." Hermione said, repressing a yawn. They had spent hours wandering around looking for hidden chambers, and had found a few. In the morning she would cross reference their results with Hogwarts: A History and current students to see if any of them were unknown. Her hopes were fairly low, but they had only just started.

"Yeah, we should probably get back to our dormitories as well." Harry replied in turn.

**_"wait, we still gotta make one more stop."_**

"We do?" Hermione asked.

**_"yeah, i gotta visit mr. huggles.."_**

"That's the name you decided to call him? Mr. Huggles?" Harry asked in disbelief.

**_"only the left one. i haven't named the other two."_**

"Who's... Mr. Huggles?" Hermione asked.

**_"he's my other pet, so you'd better get along with him squeakles, okay?"_**

"Do I want to know?" Hermione asked Harry, who merely shook his head.

"Probably not, but Rex'll show you eventually, so it might as well be while I'm here. Otherwise Rex'll drag you over here to show you on his own."

"Right. I can see how that might go badly... Wait, isn't this the door Dumbledore told us not to go into? The one that will result in a painful and horrific death?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right. Don't worry, Rex'll protect us. "

**_"yeah, that's right."_** Rex stretched, resuming his horrific visage. His mouth opened, as he let out a monstrous bellow, **_"BLINKY! PINKY! BRING ME SOME MEAT!"_**

With a pop, the two house elves he had been talking to earlier appeared, with an entire flank of beef, Rex examined it briefly, before **_"MORE. BRING ME MORE! THIS ISN'T ENOUGH FOR MR. HUGGLES."_**

"Of course Master Rex sir! How much more does Master Rex sir need?"

**_"THREE TIMES AS MUCH, AT LEAST. MR. HUGGLES HASN'T EATEN IN A WHILE SO I WANT TO MAKE SURE HE'S NICE AND FULL."_**

"Yes Master Rex sir! Right away!"

The elves vanished to retrieve more food, and the unusual trio turned to face the door.

"You ready Hermione?"

"...Do I really have a choice?"

**_"NOT REALLY SQUEAKLES. BESIDES, YOU'LL LOVE MY DOGGIE."_**

Despite bracing herself, Hermione couldn't fully repress a scream when she saw the Cerberus in the room. It growled at her briefly, before Rex somehow squeezed himself through the door. Upon seeing the far fiercer beast, the Cerberus cowered, squatting down and covering two of its heads with its paws, while the third merely whimpered in terror.

Rex strode up to the creature, before roughly petting the vulnerable head, **_"GOOD DOGGIE. YOU RECOGNIZE YOUR MASTER. NOW LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN LEARN A TRICK BEFORE YOUR FOOD GETS HERE."_**

Hermione sighed in relief, that something else was the target of Rex's attention.

"So what does Rex want with him anyways?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to Harry.

"He wants to ride him."

"You're joking."

"Nope. He's gonna ride him all over Hogwarts once he gets him trained. I'm hoping that'll take long enough that Rex gets bored. Otherwise it'll be really troublesome to deal with." Harry sighed.

"Troublesome is the least of your worries. Everyone in the school will go mad if they see that." Hermione replied, thinking of the damage such an event would cause.

"Don't worry about it too much. Rex'll probably get bored long before he finishes training the dog."

"Somehow I don't think probably will be enough." Hermione sighed, unable to shake the visions of carnage form her mind. Still, if Harry wasn't concerned, maybe she was being a bit of a worrywart. It wasn't like he was going to start riding it around tomorrow.

Right?


	10. Chapter 10

Yes, after several months, I finally posted a new chapter. Apologies for the long gap between them. There were a lot of different reasons for why it took so long, but the main one was that I've been getting burned out at work, so I haven't really been up to writing much. Sadly, that isn't likely to change, but I'll try to make more of an effort. I am looking into getting a new job, so hopefully that will pan out and I'll be in a better mood more often so I can write more. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

**_HPaCT_**

Dear Annabel,

Guess what? I made a new friend here! You know the girl Rex kidnapped a couple of weeks ago? Anyways, she's pretty nice. A bit bossy, and always insisting we get our homework done, but nice. Rex found some sort of three headed dog, and decided to train it, so we haven't done much exploring lately while he "teaching him the basics" so I've been stuck catching up on all the work I've been missing. Hopefully, I'll get it all done quickly, so we can have fun during Christmas break.

Anyways, it's nearly lunch time now, so I have to get going. Say hi to your family for me!

Your friend,

Harry

Harry passed his letter to the waiting Hedwig, before hurrying out of the dorms towards the Great Hall. He exchanged idle chit chat with numerous other Hufflepuffs on the way, though the rumbling in his stomach kept him from getting caught up in any one conversation.

Finally, he arrived in the bustling Great Hall, and struggled to find an open seat in the boisterous crowd. He was fortunate as several students stood up at that exact moment, leaving a rather large area open for him to steal a seat.

Hungrily, he reached out and grabbed whatever food was close at hand. As his hunger was slowly sated, he slowly became aware of the chatter around him.

"So where are all those blokes going?"

"Quidditch trials."

"Didn't those happen at the start of the year?"

"That was for the first string. This is for the second string and backup team."

"Why bother with that?"

"We're Hufflepuffs. If people want to play, why not let them? Also, it's a lot better to practice playing against another team then just running formations and drills."

"True enough I guess. So about that potions essay..."

Harry tuned out the conversation as it took a more amorous turn, and considered. He hadn't really had a chance to explore the Quidditch sport, his early month too busy with adjusting to a new school, and more importantly, keeping Rex out of trouble. But with Rex occupied, maybe he could see what all the fuss was about.

"Hey Earnie, are you going to the Quidditch try outs?"

"Yep, me, Justin, Hannah and a few others are going to watch. You coming with?"

"Sure, just give me a few minutes, alright? I'll meet you there!" Harry replied, waving off his classmate. He looked around the hall, before spotting an increasingly familiar bushy head of hair.

"Hey, Hermione!"

He was unsurprised to see her buried in a stack of books, even as she absently ate her meal.

"Ah! Harry! Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed, glaring at the dark haired boy.

"Sorry, sorry. I tried talking, but you didn't seem to hear me."

Hermione flushed, "Well, it was a fascinating read, about how to substitute common kitchen ingredients into potions. What was it that you needed Harry?"

"Well the Hufflepuffs are having Quidditch tryouts today, and I know we were going to the library, but I was thinking we could go to the Quidditch Field for a bit instead."

"But what about our homework? Christmas Holidays are right around the corner and if we aren't well ahead in our classes we won't be able to relax!"

"Come on, spending a little time away from the library won't set us back too much, right?"

"I don't know..."

"What's the worst that can happen?"

"..alright fine, but we're only going for a bit, and we're bringing the homework for Charms class, alright?"

**_HPaCT_**

Harry had quickly adapted to having Hermione in his life, but the process was by no means an easy one. For one, regardless of how terrifying she found Rex, she was a dedicated book worm, and had no qualms about pestering him to study. Granted, he generally went along with it, partially because Hufflepuffs were known for their dedication to all things, studying included, but mainly because he was beginning to get attached to her.

Rex was a large reason for this. It was nice to be able to talk about him with someone at school, who wouldn't think he was crazy. Sure, he could probably introduce a few of his housemates, like Earnie and Susan to Rex, but given the past reactions of people, he didn't see it ending too well.

Still, he wished they wouldn't have to spend so much time studying. He was just glad he managed to convince her that studying outside was a good idea. It was a rare day in November that the weather wasn't absolutely frigid, and Hermione had learned a spell to make blue flames in a jar to fend off the worst of it, but even if it was freezing and there was no fire available, he still would have insisted.

There was Quidditch practice after all.

Harry was still surprised that wizards and witches actually flew around on broomsticks, and even more so when he learned they played sports upon them. He had missed the flying lesson offered to first years because Rex was being difficult, but managed to get a seat for the first Hufflepuff game, and was hooked from the start. Watching the chasers and beaters clash all over the field, tossing the quaffle and dodging bludgers was more entertaining than any soccer game he had seen, and though Annabel would hit him for thinking it, it blew baseball completely out of the water.

He felt a bit sorry for the Keeper and Seeker though. The Keeper only got to act when the other team had the ball, and the Seeker only had a few moments of furious activity before the game ended, one way or another.

"Harry! Pay attention!" Hermione demanded, forcing Harry's attention away from the circling fliers, and back to the books before them.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just hard to look away, you know?"

Hermione sighed, "I suppose... to be honest, I was rather looking forward to flying on a broom just like the witches I read about when I was little. I actually started crying when i found out first years couldn't have brooms."

"There's always next year, right?"

"I suppose, but given what happened to Neville, I'm not sure if I'd want to... I think I'd just worry about falling when I was a thousand feet in the air and having my brains splattered all over the countryside."

Harry winced, "I suppose that would be a bit scary to think about..."

"Still, maybe I could get a practice broom or something. Or just flew low until I got the hang of it. I've been reading up on sticking charms as well, and if I used one of those then I wouldn't have to worry about falling."

"Hermione!" Harry interrupted, enjoying that he was the one getting her head out of the clouds for once, "weren't we going to write our History of Magic Essays?"

Hermione blushed lightly, before reprimanding him, "You know you'll just be watching the Quidditch team in five minutes!"

"So we should probably get it done before that happens then, don't you think?" Harry teased her, earning a slap on the shoulder.

"You can be such a prat sometimes Harry Potter." Hermione said, though she was smiling, "how about we just watch the end of practice, then write our essays after dinner?"

"That sounds good to me.

"So are you enjoying the game? Hannah asked as she warmed her hands by the sapphire flames.

"I suppose... I never really watched sports before. I was always in the library."

"I'll be honest, I'm not that much of a Quidditch fan either, but it's nice to spend time with friends, right?"

A slight smile crossed Hermione's face, "Yeah, it is kind of

"So what are you doing after this?"

"We're studying. I want to get it all done before the holidays."

"You too? I hate working through the holidays, but I never can get myself to get it done before we leave, too much to do usually. Do you mind if I join you and Harry sometime?"

"Er... that would be nice."

**_HPaCT_**

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"It was... nice" Hermione admitted, "though I think you had a lot more fun than I did."

"I guess I did. I might even try out for the Quidditch team next year."

"Oh? What position?"

"I'm not sure," Harry answered, as he turned a page "I think Chaser looks like a lot of fun. You're always in the action, and working together with your teammates. I wish first years could try out, even if it's only for the backup team."

"Well, there's always next year Harry. I'm sure you'll be a fine flier, even if you did miss the lesson."

"Yeah, Rex was making trouble that day, so I missed it. He was it?"

"Honestly, a bit terrifying. Neville, one of my housemates, broke his arm the moment we started. After that I was a bit too worried to float more than a few feet above the ground."

"Who taught it again? I was wondering if I could get a make up lesson."

"Madame Hooch. She's really good at teaching."

"Want to come with?"

"I... don't think so. Maybe next year once I'm more used to these sorts of things, and buy a better broom than they have here. That's wrong by the way Harry." Hermione said, absently pointing out a minor error on his paper.

"Huh, my mistake. So the brooms are that bad?"

Hermione shuddered "I felt like it was going to collapse out from under me. Some of them actually started dropping out of the air once or twice."

"Well, I'm sure a new broom would work a lot better. Maybe you could buy one over the holidays?"

"Probably not until summer. It's not like I could bring it here until second year."

"I guess that makes sense. Should I reference Chomsky or Ralideky for the Freezing Charm?"

"Chomsky. He spent more time researching the fine details. What did you say were the more efficient motions?"

"Twirl, flick and point. It's slightly faster than the other way."

"Thanks. You're a bit better at the practical aspects than me."

"Anytime. So what are you doing over the holidays?"

"Well, we'll probably spend the first week or so vacationing. Mum loves to go skiing, so we'll probably go to the continent, and then after we'll spend Christmas and New Years back in England. What about you?"

"I don't think we'll be going vacationing, or if we do, I'll probably be left behind. My aunt and I don't really get along."

"Well, why don't you just stay here?"

"I promised Annie I would visit her, and she'd be really mad if I broke it."

"Annie?"

"A friend from back home. You should meet her some time."

"Well..." Hermione hesitated, "I don't know if I'll be able to visit you over the holidays, but perhaps in summer? Even if we do something as a family, I'm sure there will be a few weeks free to stop by and meet her."

"That would be great! I'm sure the two of you will get along great!" Harry smiled, and Hermione mirrored the expression, before returning to their work.

**_HPaCT_**

"Albus." McGonagall greeted the Headmaster she she entered his office.

"Minerva, how are you today?"

"Well enough I suppose, though I'm still a bit concerned over Miss Granger."

"I admit I have my own concerns."

"You don't really think she was using Dark Magic, do you Albus?"

The Headmaster sighed, "There is no doubt in my mind that she did not. Such magic is beyond a first year, even one as intelligent as our young Miss Granger. However, Dark Magic was most certainly used. It is the only explanation I can think of."

"But who could have used it?"

"I suspect the one who released the Troll into Hogwarts."

"Why would they do such a thing?'

"Most likely, it was meant to be a distraction. To keep our attention for the moment. If Miss Granger had been killed, I daresay the students, teachers, parents, the Board, even the Ministry itself would demand a full investigation, something our mysterious friend would most likely want to avoid. Saving her life was simple pragmatism on their part."

Minerva sighed, "Whatever the reason, I'm glad she was saved. I would hate to lose one of my students, especially one as bright as her."

"She reminds me of you when you were a student. Always telling others how to act and what to do, though I remember you being a bit more physical about your encouragement."

"Albus!" McGonagall blushed, before a more somber expression slid into place, "And how is Severus?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Slightly better than before, but still unhinged. I doubt that he will ever be quite the same again."

"Do you think the events are linked?"

"Considering that both Severus and Miss Granger were ranting about some kind of monster? Such a thing cannot be mere coincidence. It was likely a side effect of whatever magic was used to obscure the truth. Severus' more severe reaction was undoubtedly a result of the additional power necessary to alter his mind."

"Severus was quite talented at the mental arts. If someone could overpower him, they would have to be powerful indeed."

"Powerful and skilled. While Miss Granger managed to recover, it seems some of the Healers at St. Mungo's are now suffering from a similar affliction. I think it was merely transferred from her to them. Crafting a spell capable of infecting others is no mean task. I think it may be necessary to take a more active approach in the activities behind closed doors her at Hogwarts."

"Do you think that is wise? It might provoke them into hiding."

"If I do nothing, it will only make them more cautious. Doing nothing will only make them think I am concealing my actions and be more cautious. I will investigate, but I fear I may be a bit too ham handed about it. I only hope our friend does not use it to their advantage." Dumbledore answered, a ghost a smile on his face. "Both of our hands are tied in this game of wits. Their attention is devoted to the puzzles of the Third Corridor, and I am not as free to act as I would like, as preventing any harm to our students is my top priority. There are a great number of unpleasant options available to our friend, and preventing him from using them will take up most of my attention."

"It doesn't sit well with me Headmaster."

"Nor with me Minerva, but we have no other options. Letting things play out as they will with only a light touch to steer them is the one viable choice we have."

"I hope you are right Headmaster."

Again, Dumbledore sighed, "As do I Minerva, as do I."

Again, Dumbledore sighed, "As do I Minerva, as do I."

**_HPaCT_**

Hope you enjoyed it, even if it was a bit short. As always, please leave a review!


	11. Chapter 11

Happy Halloween everyone! Somehow I managed to cook up another chapter in time for the holidays! I hope you guys enjoy it.

Fair warning: I most likely won't post another one until December (probably longer given my track record because National Novel Writing Month is upon us, and I want to give it a shot this year

Apolgies for any typoes or other errors. I put a rush job on this, so there may be some quality issues.

**_HPaCT_**

The remaining weeks of the terms nearly flew by, as Harry and the rest of the students frantically tried to complete their classes and avoid ruining their break with homework.

Despite the hectic pace needed to get everything taken care of, Harry found himself getting side tracked far too often by Rex and his escapades. No matter how many times he told him to behave, Rex always wandered off on his own to take care of his own pet, command the elves to bring him children, and terrorizing whoever was unfortunately to be out in the hallways after dark.

It was during one of these escapades that harry ran into Hermione, as well as a far less savory student. Harry quietly made Rex shrink down, while he peered around a corner and listened in.

"Why, Granger! What a surprise to see you here! It's almost like you don't have any friends and spend all your time alone in the library because of it." The blonde spoke up, his mocking voice echoing through the empty hallways.

"Sod off Malfoy! I don't have time for your childish fun. Some of us actually study for out grades instead of having the Professor fix our work for us!"

The mocking tone was gone, replaced with anger, "Are you saying that I don't earn my grades? That I need help to out perform a Mudblood like you!"

He reached into his robe, but Hermione was quicker, aiming her wand at the trio before they could pull their own.

"Don't you dare Malfoy! I'm beating you in every class that uses a wand, so don't think you can hex me here!"

Malfoy smirked, "Go ahead and hex me Granger. There are three of us and only one of you. You might get me, but Crabbe and Goyle will get you." Hermione hesitated for a moment, giving thema chance to draw their own wands.

"Actually, it's two on three." Harry spoke up as he moved forward, his own wand already drawn. "Doesn't seem right to pick on girls, don't you think?"

"Well well boys, look who we have here. The famous Harry Potter, come down from on high to grace us with his presence." The leader, Malfoy apparently, leered at him, while his two goons followed suit. Hermione took the opportunity to move over behind Harry, and draw her wand.

"What's it to you?" Harry asked.

"Why I just wanted to have a talk with that Mudblooded girl behind you. Nothing wrong with that, is there?" Malfoy said. "It's not my fault if the babarian decided to draw her wand and make a figth out of it."

"It didn't look so friendly to me."

"Well, Potty, that's because you grew up among ignorant Muggles, and don't know that every witch and wizard has a place in our society, and Granger here just happens to be the lowest of the low. Beneath even a Squib, who should be grateful for any attention from a Pureblood like myself.

"Back off." Harry seethed, his wand trembling form the amount of force applied to it.

"Oh? And just what will you do if I don't? Crabbe and Goyle won't take too kindly to violence."

"Is that so?" Harry said, his glare not abating.

"Feel free to find our Potter, though I think I'll head back to the dorms. The air has a bit of a stink to it." Malfoy replied with a smug smirk, and a pointed look at Hermione. With a curt gesture form their leader, the trio turned and departed, leaving HArry and Hermione standing along in the hallway.

Harry didn't move for a few minutes, making sure they had really left, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, you didn't need to do that." Hermione answered, backing away from him. "I know how to handle Malfoy and his goons."

"So this has happened before!"

"Not every house is as friendly as Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor and Slytherin never got along. Malfoy likes to throw his weight around whenever he gets the chance. He's a bloody coward though. Only picks on people who can't fight back. I could have handled him myself."

"Alright then."

"But thank you Harry." Hermioen smiled, "It means a lot to me that you would help me out, even when it wasn't your fault."

"Anytime. We're friends after all right?"

"Right." Hermione replied, blushing lightly, "Well, I'd better get back to my house. Tomorrow's another busy day."

Harry watched her leave, as Rex resumed his true form. Turning to his partner, he asked him a question.

"Hey Rex? Why didn't you do anything?"

**_"WHY? DID YOU WANT ME TO?"_**

"No, but generally when someone starts messing with me or someone you like, you smash first and ask questions later, like with Snape."

**_"WELL HARRY, THERE COMES A TIME WHEN EVERYONE GOES THROUGH THE KROMAK PHASE OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT. THIS IS WHEN THE KROMAK AND OTHER YOUNG LEAVE THE NEST TO ESTABLISH THIER OWN TERRITORY, THEY SPEND THEIR TIME HUNTING FOR FOOD, FIGHTING WITH RIVAL KROMAKS, AND BUILDING A NEST OUT OF THE BONES OF THEIR ENEMIES TO ATTRACT A THIS STAGE IS COMPLETE, THEY ARE CONSIDERED TO BE FULLY MATURED AND READY TO LIVE ON THEIR OWN."_**

"Uh..."

**_"DURING THIS PERIOD, THE FLURGHSPAGE, OR 'AUTHORITY FIGURE' AS YOU HUMANS CALL THEM, WATCHES FROM AFAR, MAKING SURE TO KEEP PREDATORS AND THE LIKE WHILE THE YOUNG KROMAK ESTABLISHES ITS PLACE IN IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE"_**

"So basically, I have to deal with him on my own, in order to grow up a bit?"

**_"WELL, IF YOU WANT TO PUT IT THAT WAY, I GUESS IT WORKS..."_** Rex muttered.

Harry chuckled a bit, "Thanks for explaining it to me Rex, but I don't think I'm ready to be a Kromak just yet."

**_"DON'T WORRY. I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE OUT OF HIS BONES ONCE YOU KILL HIM. YOU'LL PROBABLY NEED TO KILL LIKE, FIVE OR SIX MORE, BUT AFTER THE FIRST ONE IT'S EASY"_**

"I... don't think that I'm going to kill him Rex."

**_"HM. I GUESS YOU REALLY ARE STILL JUST A LIBIGUM RIGHT NOW THEN. MAKES SENSE THAT THEY WOULD GATHER ALL YOU WIZARD TYPES UP BEFORE YOU BECOME KROMAKS SO YOU DON'T MESS UP THE REST OF THE HUMANS. WELL, WHEN YOU REACH THAT POINT, I'LL BE HERE TO OFFER YOU SOME TIPS."_**

"...thanks?"

**_"NO PROBLEM."_**

**_HPaCT_**

From that point on, Harry made an effort to spend at least some of his study time with the study group, and made sure to invite Hermione whenever he could. Hermione, for her part, was grateful for the offers, as well as the opportunity to spend time with people who were actually studying, as well as having a deterrent for Malfoy.

Harry noticed Malfoy and his goons out of the corner of his eye once or twice, but the Slytherin trio seemed content to stay away from the collection of students. It reminded Harry distastefully of his cousin who relied on superior numbers to rule the playground. Maybe Annabel would have some advice on how to deal with him when he saw her over the break.

Fortunately the remainder of their time passed quickly, and all too soon Harry found himself on the Hogwarts express, chugging along back to London. Most of the time was spent talking with his housemates, exchanging promises to write over the holidays and send small gifts. Hufflepuff was one of the most sociable houses, and that extended beyond the doors of Hogwarts as well.

Upon arriving platform nine and three quarters, the more magical families departed with the quick crack of apparition, while those who lived among the muggles exited, and quickly dissipated into the crowd with their families.

Soon, the only people left were Harry and Hermione, and Harry was beginning to realize that his aunt wasn't coming to get him. It made sense, since she and Dudley were terrified about Rex, but he thought that she would have at least told him not to come, instead fo finding out after arriving.

"Isn't your aunt coming to pick you up?" Hermione asked as she finally spotted her parents and their car, and began waving frantically.

"No, I don't think she is." Harry said quietly, distracting Hermione form her current activity. "It's alright, I'll just call a friend of mine for a ride. They'll be here in an hour or so."

"You know, we can give you a ride Harry. It wouldn't be any trouble at all." Hermione said to her friend. "I owe you that much at least for all the help you've given me this year."

"Are you sure? I can manage on my own..." Harry said.

"I insist." Hermione replied, before she seized his hand and all but dragged him to the car. Harry met the eyes of her parents embarrassedly, before introducing himself.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger. It's nice to meet you."

"So you're Harry, the boy that my daughter has been writing home about?" Mr Granger asked, passing a critical eyes over the boy before him.

"Dear, stop that, you'll frighten the poor thing."

"Fine, fine. Now Hermione said you needed a ride?" the male Granger asked, his hawk like gaze still locked on the emerald eyed child.

"If it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all." Mrs. Granger said, elbowing her husband discreetly so he would nod in agreement. "It's not far out of our way, and we would love to hear what you and Hermione have been getting up to at Hogwarts."

The ride was fairly uneventful. Harry spent most of the time listening to Hermione and her mother talk about her experiences at school, only occasionally contributing his own responses. He noticed that Hermione made no mention of her brief stay at St. Mungo's, and made sure to avoid the subject as well. After a while, the stream of words slowed and stopped. Mrs. Granger began talking with her husband, while Hermione was content to review one of her schoolbooks.

"Do you think Aunt Petunia will mind that we came back for the holidays without telling her?" Harry asked Rex discreetly. "I know that she didn't pick us up, but do you think she missed the letter?"

**_"maybe. she knew that you'd be back for the summer, so why wouldn't she expect you over the winter?"_**

"I suppose..." Harry began before Hermione elbowed him.

"Harry!" she hissed, "stop talking to him in front of my parents!"

**_"relax squeakles. adults don't know how ot pay attention. they'll just think you guys are playing a game or something. besides, we're here already."_**

Harry glanced up, and they had indeed arrived at Number Four Privet Drive.

"Thank you for the ride." Harry said gratefully to the Grangers as he stepped out of the car. Hermione and her mother both smiled and waved, while Mr. Granger simply gave him the evil eye and a brief 'I've got my eye on you' gesture.

Harry walked up to the door and knocked. A woman opened the door and looked around briefly before noticing Harry. Abruptly, the blood drained from her face as she recognized her nephew.

"H-Harry!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed in a combination of utter shock and abject terror, not expecting to see her nephew at the door. Her eyes darted around frantically, before settling on the car in the driveway with a young girl and her parents. Falling back on years of living in polite society, she smiled and waved at them mechanically, before ushering Harry into the house. The Granger's reacted in kind, with a brief weave before getting back into their car and driving off to their own home.

Immediately, Petunia turned to look at the child who had utterly destroyed her husband, and terrified her little boy into submission. Her eyes locked with the empty, plastic gaze of his treasured stuffed dinosaur, and couldn't suppress a shudder as she recalled what Dudley had told her about it and what her husband screamed in his rare bouts of maddened consciousness.

"Harry, it's so... wonderful, to see you!" Petunia managed to squeak out from behind her tightly clenched jaw and forced smiled. "I thought you would be spending the holidays at Hogwarts will all of your friends."

"Well, a lot of them went home to visit their families, and I wanted to see how Annie's been doing."

"Of course... I had almost forgotten about your little friend here." Petunia practically sobbed, "Why don't you go say hello to Uncle Vernon? I'm sure he missed you while you were away."

"Alright." Harry replied.

"He's in the living room with Dudley." Petunia said before running to hide in the kitchen.

**_"hey kiddo."_** Rex whispered as he jumped on the unsuspecting overweight child. Dudley recognized the voice form his nightmares, and immediately began flailing around, screaming. Likewise, the machines by Uncle Vernon began to beep loudly and rapidly as his eyes began to dart around, his sightless eyes fearfully searching for the terror that would never really leave him. As Harry walked up to his uncle, Dudley managed to escape from Rex and fled up to his room, slamming and locking his door behind him.

"Hi Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia said that I should come in here to say hello, though I guess Dudley had something to take care of." Harry said, uncertain of how to deal with his near catatonic uncle. "Do you mind if I sit down and watch the telly with you?"

Vernon made some faint, distressed noises as Harry settled on to the couch nearby, but they went unheard by the boy due to Dudley's preferred high volume. Harry sat with his uncle for an hour or so, before his fearful aunt ventured into the room.

"Harry! I made some dinner for you. I'm sure you were looking forward to a nice, home cooked meal, right?" Petunia asked nervously.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble..."

"No trouble at all! Why would you think that Harry?" Petunia said hysterically, almost unable to keep a laughed edged in madness from escaping her lips.

"There's only one spot." Harry noted as he entered the otherwise pristine kitchen.

"Dudders and I already ate, isn't that right sweetie?" Petunia asked, to which Dudley nodded furiously in agreement.

"Well, if you're sure..." Harry said before sitting down to the extremely large meal.

"Don't forget the music! Mum says that it helps digestion!" Dudley exclaimed suddenly, rushing over to the radio and turning up to the point of near deafening. Ahrry flinched, but his relatives had disappeared before he could say anything. Shrugging, Harry turned to his plate and began to eat.

After dinner, Harry joined his uncle once again, silently watching TV. He saw almost no sign of his aunt and cousin, only the vague sound of scurrying and the occasional hushed conversation. Paying them little mind, Harry resolved to simply enjoy the show with Rex, and to empty company of his uncle.

Another hour passed before Harry noted the time, and turned the television off. The sun had set shortly before dinner, and the darkness of true darkness had fully settled. Harry ventured up the stairs to his room, and pulled out some of his school books. While he had done his best, it had proved impossible to finish all of his work with Rex's antics distracting him. He had promised Hermione that he would do at least some every day, so he opened the Standard Book of Spells and began to review the chilling charm and its most common uses for his Charms essay.

**_ HPaCT_**

When Harry woke up, he felt that something was off. It took only a few minutes to determine what was odd about Number Four Privet Drive.

It was empty.

It seemed that over the course of the night, Aunt Petunia had managed to load up both Dudley and Vernon (an impressive feat, even with Vernon's weight loss) and taken off to parts unknown. She had at least had the courtesy to leave a brief note that they were going on a vacation, and would be back in time to drive him to the train station at the end of the holidays.

**_"whats up harry?"_**

"It looks like we have the house to ourselves Rex."

**_"grEAT!"_ **Rex exclaimed as his took assumed his full size.

"Rex! Not in the house! You'll break something."

**_"WELL, ALRIGHT. IT IS A bit cramped like that anyways."_ **Rex acceded, shrinking back down to his benign form. Harry sighed in relief, making sure that he hadn't inadvertently destroyed anything important. A brief inspection showed that everything was intact, just moved around a bit. Sighing in relief, Harry began to make himself some breakfast. He noticed that the house was almost completely stocked with chips and fries and a whole assortment of junk food, probably for Dudley. Harry did the best with what was available, but the end result ended up being far to greasy for his taste, and he only managed a few bites before giving the rest to Rex.

The majority of the day was spent going through the house and getting things in order. The haste with which the Dursleys had departed left behind a massive mess, and harry would prefer not to sleep in a complete dump for the next two weeks. He managed to clean up most of it, but by the time he was done, the sun had nearly set. Harry's stomach growled at the neglect he had put it through, but he really wasn't looking forward to what was available in the house.

Before he could begin cooking, the doorbell rang, and Harry was only slightly surprised to see Annabel standing there. She was completely bundle up in heavy coats, scarves, and mittens, but her blonde hair and piercing blue eyes were more than enough for harry to identify her. She stepped into the house, unwrapped her face, and turned to face him.

"You haven't been eating well." was the first thing Annabel said to him when she saw him, eying him up and down critically, "I bet you've been skipping meals at that school of yours."

"Not on purpose! It's just that, well, Rex tends to get into trouble when I leave him alone, so sometimes I have to keep an eye on him." Harry admitted cautiously, "But I always try to grab something from the kitchens whenever I can."

"Not good enough. I saw your aunt a leave early this morning, so you'll just end up eating whatever junk food is laying around. Come on, you're going to eat at my house tonight." Annabel commanded, seizing his hand and dragging him after her.

"Wait! Let me grab my coat at least! It's cold outside!"

**_"can I come too?"_** Rex asked eagerly, almost hopping in excitement.

Annabel considered it for a moment, "..fine, but no making trouble and no fighting with Homer, alright Rex?"

**_"you're no fun... but fine."_**

**_HPaCT  
_**

Annabel's mom had prepared a massive meal for the three of them. While her father was at work until later in the evening, Annabel's mom shared her opinion that harry needed to eat more, and all but demanded he sit down and eat. The two children sat at the table with Annabel's mother busied herself with last minute preparations. She shared the same shocking blonde hair as her daughter, but there the similarities ended. Annabel was tomboy, but her mother preferred dresses to jeans. Annabel spoke her mind without regard for the consequences, while her mom demonstrated tact and grace. Harry idly wondered if Annabel would mature into someone similar to her mother, or would remain the same person she was now.

Further thought was cut off, as the meal was brought in, and the children dug in with a gusto, while the sole adult ate at a more sedate pace. After the first course was consumed, the children slowed their pace as well, and Annabel mother struck up a conversation.

"So Harry, Annabel tells me that you've been away at boarding school, how has that been for you?"

"Er...pretty well actually." Harry replied hesitantly., not sure if the Statute of Secrecy would allow him to talk about school.

"So what type of classes have you been taking?"

"Er..." Harry stalled, trying desperately to come up with something plausible. "The usual classes, math, science, literature."

"Any special classes?" Annabel's mom asked.

"Well, I am taking a Defense class..." Harry managed to come up with, Defense Against the Dark Arts counted, right?

"Oh? Worried about bullies?" she continued, "Do you need Annabel to come up and teach thema lesson or two?"

"No, nothing like that really, just seemed interesting is all."

"Mom, can we please talk about something other than school?" Annabel almost whined, causing Harry to flash her a grateful smile.

"Oh all right, I was just curious about your little boyfriend."

"Gross Mom! He's not my boyfriend!"

"Of course he's not sweetie..." Annabel's mom placated her irritated daughter, "so how is your dinner Harry?"

"Fine Ma'am, thank you for having me."

"Such a polite boy, I really wish my Annie could be a bit more like you. Sometimes I think she would be better behaved if we let her be raised by wolves."

"MOM!" Annabel exclaimed.

"Oh, you know I'm just teasing you sweetie." Annabel;'s mom smiled, but the twinkling in her eyes made Harry think she knew exactly what she was doing.

Dinner continued in this fashion, with Annabel's embarrassed blush deepening as the meal went on. It wasn't until dessert was served that her father came home, distracting the source of Annabel's ever growing shame, and allowing the children to escape into the back yard.

"I'm really sorry about that." Annabel said as soon as they were out of sight of the house, her blush still present, "She's always saying things like that. I really wish she would just cut it out and leave me alone sometimes."

"It's fine." Harry said, "It seems that's what a lot of parents do. I think it means that she loves you."

"Well I wish she could find a better way to do it." Annabel groused, "Come on, let's get to the park before it gets any darker. Homer and Rex probably want to play, and I'd rather not blow up the neighborhood."

Harry smiled, "Sounds good to me."


	12. Chapter 12

Yes, hooray, a new chapter up in time for the holidays.

For those of you interested, I did managed to complete national novel writing month, with a grand total of 60,000+ words. of course, I'm sure to cut several thousand out during editing, and I'm nowhere near done with it, but I did manage to reach a major checkpoint.

A lot of people have been mentioning typos and errors in reviews, including a glaring omission of what Homer actually is, so I'm going to try and revise the earlier chapters (and probably this one too) so that isn't an issue. While the editing process will take some time, here's an excerpt with Homer's base description:

Rex was wresting with what resembled a hideous combination of sport equipment and a giant catcher. Its arms and legs were composed of baseball bats and balls, that writhed and seethed as it attempted to strangle Rex. The battered looking pads on its chest were spattered with...something. Behind the mask, two pale yellow eyes glowed with hate, as it answered Rex's roar with his own.

Enjoy the chapter!

**_HPaCT_**

The winter holidays passed quickly. Harry spent most of the time catching up with Annabel, and sharing tales of his own adventures at Hogwarts. While Annabel hadn't had nearly so many unusual things to talk about, Homer caused far more trouble without strange things to distract him.

They spent most of their time outside, mainly to avoid Annabel's mother. They played in the park mostly, but when the sun went down, they often explored the rapidly growing junk yard, courtesy of Homer's fits of boredom. Once the cold grew too bitter, they often went back inside to watch one of the endless stream of holiday specials on the television. On a few occasions, Harry simply did homework, while Annabel paged through his other books in utter fascination.

Of course, day after day of the same thing can irritate even the most patient of souls, and children were about the furthest thin from patient. As the weeks passed, Annabel grew more and more irritable, often lashing out at Harry verbally, or storming off briefly. Harry did his best to endure, but as her poor mood persisted, he began to respond in kind. All too soon their interactions had degraded to picking at each other, spending time together only because they had nothing else to do.

**_HPaCT_**

"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked, sightlessly paging through his Potions book.

"Well, it's too cold to play baseball, especially with all this snow..." Annabel said, idly spinning the baseball that was Homer on her finger from her lounging position on the couch.

"Want to watch the telly?"

"We already did that for two hours, and there's nothing good on anyways. If I see another Holiday Special I'm going to flip out." Annabel groused.

"Want to go for a walk?" Harry offered.

"It's freezing out there. We already made a snow man, snow fort, snowballs, snow everything!" Annabel said, now shouting. "You leaving tomorrow and I'm glad you are! I'm sick of you Harry Potter!" She hurled Homer across the room, pegging Rex squared in his plush head. Both monsters began to complain, but upon seeing her expression, thought better of it.

Harry blinked in disbelief. "You... you're really sick of me?"

"Yes! No!" Annabel contradicted herself, now pacing across the living room in frustration. Harry watched in silenced as she struggled to get her thoughts in order.

"I guess I'm just worried. It sounds like Hogwarts is so much more interesting than being here, and everyone can use magic... I'm worried that you'll decide to stay up there instead of coming back to a boring place like this." Annabel admitted, looking down at her feet. "You've been forgetting to write letters to me more and more, so I guess it's only a matter of time before you stop altogether..."

Harry smiled slightly, "Annabel, Hogwarts is the most amazing place I've ever been, but there's one thing that Hogwarts doesn't have."

"And what's that?"

"You." Harry said without hesitation "You are my first and best friend, and I would never forget about you. I might forget a letter here and there because Rex is making trouble, but I'll never forget about you."

"Well, you'd better not, or I'll clock you one."Annabel muttered. "Let's go build another fort. I bet if Rex and Homer help, we can make one bigger than my house!"

Harry eagerly ran after her, clumsily pulling on his coat even as they rushed out into the freezing snow. The two of them, and their monsters, spent the rest of the night playing in the snow, building a massive snow fortress and staging a final battle between the two children. While there was no clear winner, they both enjoyed themselves, and went home, exhausted, but happy.

**_HPaCT_**

**_"hey harry."_** Rex said, causing the young wizard to roll over in his bed.

"What is it Rex?"

**_"i'm hungry."_**

"Go get something from the fridge then."

**_"not that kind of hungry."_**

Harry sat up, and gave his companion a look.

**_"hey, i've been good all break! The least you can do is let me eat a treat before we go back!"_**

Harry sighed, as he though it over. Rex had been good during their vacation, and if he filled up now, he might not make too much trouble at school.

"...Alright."

**_HPaCT_**

Jonathon Brisbee had lived on Privet Drive all eight years of his life. For the most part, they were pretty good. He spent most of his time studying or playing with his computer, and even had a few friends to play outside with when his mother told him to get some fresh air. He was bullied for a portion of his life, by Dudley Dursley and his gang, but that all stopped once the new girl came to school. One crack of her aluminum bat, and Dudley had fallen to the bottom of the social ladder, leaving his victims free to move on with their lives.

In a twisted way, he preferred getting bullied. What came after Dudley stopped was so much worse.

That was when the nightmares started. When night after night he dreamed of things he couldn't remember, but always left him in a cold sweat and shaking in the morning, or curled up in the ineffectual embrace of his parents. It had stopped for the last few months, and he had hoped it was gone for good, but somehow, tonight, he knew he would have them again. He hadn't eaten at dinner, and had protested every time his parents told him it was getting late, but it was only delaying the inevitable.

He was alone in his room. While he had the light on earlier, his mother had insisted that he turn it off to save on the electric bill. Now his room was veiled in complete darkness, waiting for what was to come.

In the night, alone with his thoughts, every creak, every sound of movement was amplified a hundred times over, echoing through the room and in his head endlessly, driving him mad. Until, everything stopped, and there was only the soft, subtle scratching from outside. Johnathon's eyes widened in terrified familiarity, as he darted underneath his bed.

"Just the wind. It's just the wind." he tried to reassure himself, huddling underneath the covers as if it would protect him. The cold sensation of the floor intensifying his shivers.

**_"HELLO JOHNNY. IT'S BEEN AWHILE."_** its voice called out, filling the room, yet somehow being deathly quiet. Johnathon shook, as his gaze was drawn slowly inexorably to look for its source.

It was the window. It was always the window. He couldn't see it yet, but he knew. The scratching at the window grew louder, more insistent,

He couldn't see it very well. The shadows of the night cloaked the majority of the creature from sight, but there was one detail that was as clear as day, and was etched into the very core of Johnathon's being.

It's eye. It's blazing red eye that was filled with blood lust and hate, pulsing with promising of untold suffering and endless horrors. As Johnathon stared into it, some of the details of its form began to drift into focus. Beneath the eye were its slavering jaws, and at the edge of the window, with disconcerting delicacy, rending claws were slowly opening it.

It smiled at him, a twisted expression of sadistic friendliness, and Johnathon could feel his heart stop.

**_"SLEEP. SLEEP, AND DREAM SOMETHING HORRIFYING FOR ME."_**

Jonathon collapsed unconscious, twitching, but the horrors of the night had only just begun.

Throughout Privet Drive, the scene repeated itself, as Rex moved from house to house, bedroom to bedroom, seeking children to slake his thirst. Rex appetites knew no limits, and left behind a trail of trembling forms, tear stained pillows, and broken souls. He cared not, only that his endless hunger be sated.

**_HPaCT_**

For both Harry and Annabel, the next day came far too soon. Annabel's mother drove them both to King's Cross, smiling at their rapid chattering, as they both tried to say everything they could before parting until the summer holidays came.

The two children nearly burst out of the car, rapidly unloading Harry's luggage and heading to the area between platforms nine and ten. They had nearly half an hour before harry had to leave, and as harry glanced up at the clock once again, he noticed a familiar head of bushy brown hair.

"Hey! Hermione!" Harry waved his friend over. Hermione mirrored his gesture, before coming over and hugging the young wizard.

"So, this is one of your friends from school?" Annabel asked, looking Hermione over with a critical eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry! You must be Annabel. Harry's told me so much about you at school!"

"I'm sure he has, and you are?"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger." The young witch said, offering her hand. Annabel seized it roughly, making sure to squeeze more than was strictly necessary.

"A pleasure to meet you." Hermione managed to smile, resisting the urge to rub her hand once Annabel released it.

"Charmed." Annabel said shortly.

Annabel looked at Hermione coolly, not saying anything more, just staring at her. The young witch fidgeted, but did her level best to ignore the rising discomfort, instead trying to focus on talking to Harry.

"So how was your holiday Harry?" she asked.

"Pretty good." Harry replied, "My aunt didn't expect me back, so I spent most of my time with Annie here. We had a lot to catch up on, and it was nice to see her after such a long time."

"I'm... sure it was..." Hermione replied, somewhat unnerved by Annabel's look.

"Hermione said she would spend some of the summer with us, I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun!" Harry said, oblivious to the tension between them.

"Well, I don't know about that, I'm sure my parents will want to spend some time with me, and I'm sure that Annie has her own plans as well." Hermione stammered.

"Nonsense. I'm sure we'll have a great time together." Annabel replied, still staring at the witch.

"Harry, we should get going. The train is going to leave soon." Hermione said, a little desperately. Harry nodded in agreement, and began walking towards the platform. While his back was turned, Annabel's cool gaze turned icy cold, and Hermione flinched, before following after Harry.

Come summer, they were sure to be the best of friends.

**_HPaCT_**

The train ride was uneventful, and was mainly spent catching up with his house mates. Hermione tagged along, before two of her house mates, Lavender and Parvati, dragged her into their compartment. With an apologetic smile, Harry continued his talk with Justin and Ernie, hearing about their own wintery escapades. Ernie's stories about his family's traditions and the magical gifts he had gotten fascinated both Harry and Justin, while Justin's tale of his trip to the Alps was riveting as well, especially the part with the avalanche. While Harry's own holidays lacked both of those aspects, he still recounted his time spent with Annabel and their own adventures. Their conversation drifted towards other topics, fixating on homework, Quidditch, and idle speculation on what was behind the door on the third floor. Harry remained studiously quiet with the last subject, and was slightly relieved when shouts along the train indicated they were nearly there.

Harry watched with unbridled joy as Hogwarts came into view. The entire building was completely covered in snow, only the brightly illuminated windows indicating that it was occupied. As he stared at the growing castle, a swarm of something darted around the castle, stirring up the layers of snow into a miniature blizzard, as if Hogwarts was inside of a snow globe that had just been shaken vigorously.

"Winter fairies!" Ernie exclaimed, "They love to put on a show for people!"

Harry grinned as the swarm converged on the Hogwarts express, in a storm of flashing lights and trails of snowflakes. He felt that he saw a tiny humanoid or two within the display, but it moved by so quickly he couldn't be sure. The show followed them all the way to the station, surrounding the students with a grand finale before vanishing back into the darkness.

"Welcome back students!" Dumbledore shouted through the wind, his wand radiating a brilliant light. "I trust you all had enjoyable holidays, but we really should get inside out of this cold." Dutifully, the students fell in line behind the headmaster, passing through the immense oaken doors of Hogwarts and entering the Great Hall.

The few students who had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays waved excitedly at their returning friends, as plates heaped high with all kinds of succulent foods appeared on the house tables. Much like on the train, Harry found himself getting drawn into conversations about the holidays, recounting his own adventures once again, while listening to new stories about what had happened at Hogwarts.

As the stories were exchanged, they began to talk about plans for the new years between bites of food. Study groups, pickup Quidditch, even an exploratory expedition to see what Hogwarts had to offer. Harry couldn't help but enjoy the idea of exploring the school with his fellow Hufflepuffs. Rex was sure to whine about it some, but Harry could probably just leave him alone with his pet.

The festive atmosphere didn't dissipate at the end of the feast. The Hufflepuffs continued their conversation through the hallways and back into the Hufflepuff dormitories. Some of the older students had brought in a wizarding drink called butterbeer, which the younger students devoured with a gusto. Harry enjoyed the warmth the coursed through his body with each sip, and he chatted with his housemates, and watched the antics of some of the less inhibited older students.

The party continued late into the night. As the Hufflepuff dormitories began to settle down, Harry found himself glancing at the entryway. It had been weeks since they had spent time in Hogwarts, and he couldn't suppress the itch for adventure, and the excitement of catching up with everyone meant he wouldn't get to sleep for hours. He waited until most of the other students had gone to bed, before sneaking out into the now deserted hallways.

Long nights wandering with Rex had made the halls familiar to Harry, but he had been gone for weeks, and numerous things had been moved and rearranged during the holidays. In a way, it was like exploring Hogwarts anew.

Rex yawned from Harry's bag **_"so can i come out now?"_**

"Sure." Harry said, watching as Rex's benign, plush form hopped out. He smiled as the relatively harmless miniature monster looked around at the furnishings that towered over him. He saw him tense up to resume his greater form, but a quick, reprimanding look convinced him to remain in his less destructive form for the time being. Rex hopped up on Harry's shoulder, and looked around.

**_"so, where do you want to go first?"_**

"How about... that way?" Harry pointed in a random direction. Rex indicated his assent with a nod, and the two of them set off.

Harry had hoped to meet the Twins sometime during the night, but they were nowhere to be found. When they passed by the Gryffindor dormitories, it was easy to hear their raucous cheers and laughter, so harry didn't expect to see them tonight, or the next night either.

They considered swinging by the kitchens, but given the feast and the party that followed, Harry and Rex decided to to skip it. They had saved some leftovers from both events, and could always stop by later if they changed their mind.

They ventured into the depths of the castle, seeing all of the changes the winter holidays had wrought, both large and small. While they didn't spare the time to explore in depth, the duo enjoyed seeing the differences since the last time they tread these hallways. The last stop they made was to visit Rex's favorite pet in the room on the third floor.

**_"MR. HUGGLES! DID YOU MISS ME?"_** Rex boomed, causing the Cerberus to cower. Harry sighed as he pulled out one of the sandwiches he had saved from the welcome back feast. He knew that exploring the hallways after curfew would mean they would end up visiting Rex's favorite pet, but judging how Rex showered it with affection, they would probably be here for most of the night. Harry grumbled to himself for not bringing something to read, before settling in to watch another one of Rex's training sessions.


	13. Chapter 13

Hooray, a new chapter, and not even a month after the last one! Since the new year has started, I'm, going to make an effort to post a new chapter at least every month, though as with most resolutions, we'll have to wait and see how long that lasts.

Two notes on this chapter. Not only does it bump HPaCT over 40,000 words, and thus, making it novel length, but the chapter itself is over five thousand words long, which I'm fairly sure is a new record for me! Now that I've got that little celebration out of the way, I'll let you guys get to the story.

Enjoy!

**_HPaCT_**

The next morning, Harry found that a few packages had made their way to the bottom of his bed. It seemed that a number of his housemates had bought him a present, and had saved it until he was back at Hogwarts. Resolving to open them later that night, Harry made his way down to the common room, in hopes of getting to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As he finished descending he stairs, he was stopped by a rather sizable crowd of students all staring in wonder at something in the middle of the room. Harry moved forward, struggling to push others aside as he tried to reach a spot with a decent view of what was captivating their attention.

He wasn't disappointed.

Harry stared in wonder as the scale illusion of Hogwarts Castle. It seemed the expedition idea had caught on in Hufflepuff House, and a number of older students had provided them with tips, tools, or books to aid them. One of the sixth years had apparently spent hours enchanting the large table at the center of their dormitory to project the well crafted charm.

The outer framework was well defined and detailed. If he squinted, eh could almost make out individual bricks in the walls. The entire structure was somewhat transparent, allowing them to see the rooms inside. However, the internal structure of the castle was sparse, consisting of only a bare minimum of empty cubes with vague labels such as 'classroom' or 'girl's bathroom.'

"It's obviously incomplete," The creator admitted immediately, "I never really explored the castle all that much, so it's really only has our dormitories, a number of classrooms, the library, and the Great Hall. Professor Sprout's Office is in there too. It's only a model, so it doesn't react to changes in the castle like the moving staircases. Not yet at least.

"So how is this going to help us?" Ernie asked curiously, "If it only has the places we go anyways, what good is it?"

The older student smirked, "There's a reason I scored highest on my Charms O.W.L.s. All you have to do is press your wand on the base here," she indicated using her own, "and focus on what part of it you want to add on to or modify. And before any of you get any wild ideas, I have final control over this, and can reset it to its base illusion at any time, so no trying to be clever by putting in a Pretentious Expansionary Newt Incubation Section or anything like that."

"How did you make this?" Harry asked in wonder, causing the Sixth Year to flush with pride.

"My dad is an architect. He always loves to build things, take them apart, and see how everything fits together. I've been working on charms like this since my third year, but I've never done anything this ambitious." The sixth year admitted.

There was an immediate rush of eager students to add their own recollections to the device. The empty shell rapidly began to acquire new rooms, as well as numerous descriptions and comments alongside them.

Harry, along with the rest of the first year students, waited until the rush had died down. The end result was a conflicting mishmash of overlapping rooms and conflicting floor plans, and there were still significant gaps and empty spaces scattered throughout it. Two of his roommates, Ernie and Justin stood next to him, studying the model, before striking up a conversation.

"So, do you feel like exploring after breakfast?" Ernie asked him, "Justin and I were thinking about looking at the dueling room on the south side of the castle."

Harry considered for a moment, "Do you think we can explore the area above it? It looks like no one has been there before and I'm curious what could be there."

Ernie grinned, "Sounds like a plan to me!"

"We're going with you." Hannah said, as she and Susan walked over to join them. "We don't have anything to do until after lunch, and it looks like fun."

"You're not going to slow us down, are you?" Justin hesitated, before a glare from he young girl silenced him.

"You don't have to worry about that," Susan assured the other two as Justin quailed under Hannah's unforgiving glare. "Shall we get going? The food will be cold if we take much longer."

The five Hufflepuffs hurried down to the Great Hall, and after a quick meal, they set out to explore Hogwarts in earnest, eager to see how accurate the model in their dormitory was. Ernie and Justin had painstakingly copied it down to the best of their ability, and while the end result was a collection of crude, conflicting layouts, it served as an acceptable guide for their first expedition.

Harry was surprised how different things seemed during the day. Without the ever present danger of discovery, it was far less exciting, but the company more than made up for it. Ernie was giving an elaborate speech about the rules and regulations of Quidditch, and the history behind it, with interjections from Justin and interspersed with a conversation between Hannah and Susan about their Charms homework and their plans with Hermione later. Harry absently made sure Rex was secured in his book bag, before joining Justin in asking for more details about Quidditch, offering his own insights into the game from watching the team's practices.

**_HPaCT_**

Hermione growled as Ron's comments grew louder and more derogatory towards her. She had been putting up with whispered gossip about her ever since Halloween Night, and had even endured near interrogations form her roommates at one point, but Ron never seemed to move on. All she had done was tell him that he was going to fail his courses if he didn't do some work, and he reacted like this!

Hermione struggled to ignore him, trying to return to her own book, but he just talked louder. Finally, the young witch, along with her quill, snapped. The gossip. The looks form the teachers. Rex. The pressure to study for end of the year exams which were only months away. And Ron. All the irritation, stress, and rage reached a boiling point. With a series of violent wand motions, she began casting at the boy unfortunate enough to earn her ire.

"Silencio Permente!"

Ron's mouth disappeared. He tried to let out a series of outraged mumbles, but failed. As he turned a brilliant shade of red, he rushed towards the young witch, intent on forcing her to fix him, but she would have none of it.

"Petrificus Totalus!" She shouted.

Every joint in his body locked up, transforming his furious charge into a fall flat on his face. Hermione approached him slowly, with a cold expression on her face, and flipped the young Weasley over with her foot, and looked him right in the eye.

"Ronald Weasley, I am only going to say this once. I am tired of your constant tirades against me. I am tired of you complaining when I suggest you study, and I'm tired of how childish you are always acting! If you don't want to study, that's you're choice, but you don't have to act like such a prat to me just because I suggest that you read your books!

Quite frankly, I'm tired of you, and if you don't fix that attitude of yours, I'll have to do something about it. Something like this. Do you understand me?" Hermione asked him, his only available response was a harsh glare. Sighing, Hermione turned to a shocked looking Parvati.

"I know you know the spell to remove the body bind hex, but he'll need to see Madam Pomphrey if he wants his mouth back." The girl nodded, and stepped out of her way as Hermione gathered her books and stormed out of the room.

The young witch wasn't sure how she felt about how things had played out in the Gryffindor common room. On one hand, she was upset that she allowed Ron to get to her, and that he could hurt her so much with his words.

But on the other hand... she had paid him back twice over, if not more.

A part of her felt bad, like she was turning into one of the bullies from elementary school, but hadn't he deserved it? Was she supposed to just let him treat her however he wanted until she broke down in tears? No, she wasn't going to let that happen. She wouldn't attack him out of the blue, but if he kept pushing, she was going to push back harder. Newly resolved, Hermione headed toward the library to resume her studies, absently making a note to do some more research into hexes.

**_HPaCT_**

Harry laughed at another one of Ernie's joke, as they continued their venture through the halls of Hogwarts. The sun was beginning to set, and aside from a brief break for lunch, they had been walking through the vast corridors almost constantly. Justin had sketched a rather rough map of the places they had visited, and Harry had shown them a few of the interesting locations he had discovered with Rex, especially the kitchen, where they had feasted on sandwiches and pumpkin juice. He had tried to show them several other locations, but with the constant shifting pattern of Hogwart's layout, it was difficult to get anywhere in particular without hours of practice and memorization.

Even without encountering the things he had witnessed in his midnight wanderings, there were still a number of interesting sights and locations. Conversing with the paintings, or getting trapped on an endless staircase, everything was still so amazing, even after a full semester in the school. Even the non-magical aspects, such as the view from the tallest tower of Hogwarts was a wonderful experience, made even more enjoyable with the presence of friends. The entire experience had been filled with constant chatter and laughter.

Still, it seemed the day was beginning to wind down. Susan and Hannah had left a few hours earlier to study with Hermione, so now it was just the trio of boys, and the periodic grumbling of their stomachs were indicating that they needed to take a break again soon. They were just beginning to debate going back to the Great Hall, when they were interrupted.

"Mr. Potter!" A red haired older student shouted from several flights down, as he chased after the younger students. Harry and his friends turned curiously to see what he wanted. The older student stopped to catch his breath after sprinting up the stairs to catch them, rapidly gasping in air after the sudden exertion.

"What do you want?" Ernie asked flippantly, causing the new arrival to turn and even brighter red.

"I am a prefect, and you will treat me with respect!" he declared pompously, though it was somewhat ruined but his flushed face and occasional gasps for breath. "Professor McGonagall has requested you meet her in her office for your remedial lessons."

"Remedial lessons? I still have to do that?" Harry asked irritably.

"Would you prefer a detention?" the prefect asked, fixing Harry with a look.

"Well, it can't be helped." Justin sighed, "We need to get something to eat soon anyways."

"He's right." Ernie agreed, "We'll have to do homework tomorrow, so I guess we'll have to wait until the next weekend to do this?"

"I suppose..." Harry replied with a hint of melancholy, before brightening slightly, "Don't forget to update the map after dinner. There's still a lot more to explore, and we don't want to waste time exploring what we've already seen!"

"No problem Harry! I'll make sure he does it!" Justin called over his shoulder, with a last wave to Harry as they entered a corridor.

"Map?" the prefect asked with mild interest. Harry just shook his head, before following after him towards McGonagall's office.

**_HPaCT_**

"Here he is professor." the prefect stated as they entered the office. McGonagall looked up from a short stack of papers, before giving him a curt nod.

"Thank you Mr. Weasley. That will be all." McGonagall said, putting away her current work and rising from her desk. The red head nodded briefly before exiting, leaving Harry alone with his Transfiguration Professor.

Harry sighed as he visited Professor McGonagall's office for the first time since the winter holidays. While he didn't hate having to take the extra lessons, it was somewhat irritation.

"Mr. Potter, I trust your holidays were well?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes Professor." Harry replied. He was about to share some of the details of his escapades, but a curt nod from McGonagall cut him off. Apparently the question had been a mere pleasantry, and she was more concerned with their lesson than knowing about his holidays.

"Now, let's make sure that everything you learned over the first semester didn't fall out of your head over the break, shall we Mr. Potter?" McGonagall said, before producing a box of matches.

Harry sighed, before drawing his wand and pointing at the first match. With an uttered incantation and intense focus, he transfigured it into a needle. For a brief moment, the needle glowed red with heat, before rapidly cooling and regaining it normal silvery color.

"Excellent Mr. Potter. I'm happy to see your continued mastery of that skill. Now let's see if it holds up with some of your other classes."

Harry dutifully demonstrated a number of different spells, levitating a book form her desk, changing the color of it as it floated in front of him, and making it glow briefly before setting it down. Harry practiced number of charms and curses, before the Deputy Headmistress was satisfied and indicated that he should stop.

"Well, you managed to keep from setting my office ablaze, so I suppose we're done for now. For the most part, your spell work was acceptable Your Defense Against the Dark Arts could use some work, though that's not surprising. Honestly, I don't know what Quirrius is teaching you all in that class. If you ask me, he should go back to teaching Muggle Studies. He's far too high strung to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Professor?" Harry asked curiously. McGonagall shook her head.

"Never mind Mr. Potter. I shouldn't speak ill of my colleagues when they are adjusting to a new position." McGonagall said, "I think we can refrain from having any more of these lessons for a few weeks, but don't think I haven't noticed the heat on some of your transfigurations and other spells. You'll need to keep practicing if you expect to transfigure wood of anything else flammable. As for your Charms work, you seem to have kept those spells under control at the very least. I think I'll invite Poppy to observe our next lesson, She's always interested in seeing the development of young witches and wizards."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Madame Pomphrey is fairly well known in the medical circles. She specialized in developing witches and wizards, and produces a paper every few years about her findings. A case as unusual as yours would probably be enough for a dozen pages at least."

"I don't know about that..." Harry said, envisioning her strapping him down, poking him full of needles and cackling madly as she experimented on him. He shuddered lightly, as the idea reminded him a bit too much of his old science teacher.

McGonagall saw the look on his face and tried to reassure him, "No need to worry Mr. Potter. A few more diagnostic spell and perhaps a few potions and an over night stay is the extent her machinations. She's not going to vivisect you."

Harry sighed in relief, though the image in his head remained. "So why does she stay here? If she's so skilled, why doesn't she run a hospital or something?"

McGonagall allowed herself a smile, "As Professor Dumbledore is so fond of saying, we are all students of Hogwarts in one way or another. Poppy gets to encounter some of the most unusual cases in Britain here because of all the student's... antics." she tried to phrase it in an appropriate manner, causing Harry to grin. "The Weasley Twins in particular tend to give her pages upon pages of research. All that aside, she's learned form my example that being in such a position of authority means having to deal with nearly endless paperwork, and she's much happier providing care than signing forms.

"What do you learn Professor?" Harry inquired.

"Me?" McGonagall said in mild surprise, "I suppose I learn the minute details of Transfiguration by studying and grading your attempts in class. You would be surprised at how much one can learn from the attempts of students, both failed and successful. Perhaps I should publish a paper myself sometime..." McGonagall considered for a moment, before her mind returned to their present engagement. "Well, I think that is enough for tonight. Now I suggest you head back to your common room, Mr. Potter. Curfew should be starting shortly, and I would hate for you to lose points for your house."

"Yes Professor." Harry replied, before leaving her office. A sudden grumble form his stomach, already pushed past its limitations, told him that he needed to get something to eat first.

**_HPaCT_**

As Harry exited the kitchens, his belly now filled with culinary delights, his trip back to the Hufflepuff dormitories was cut short by an unexpected encounter.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in mild surprise at seeing him. "Susan and Hannah said you were out exploring!"

"Well, we were, but then I had to go to my remedial lessons with McGonagall." Harry said, "How did your study session go?"

Hermione smiled, "Pretty well actually. We finished most of our homework and compared notes, so we should be able to finish the rest of it on own own without any problems. Did you manage to get dinner?"

"I missed it, so I came here to grab a snack." Harry answered. "I was just about to head back to the dorms, actually."

**_"hey harry, wait a minute."_** Rex called out from Harry's bag. Harry pulled Rex out, who promptly hopped to the ground and resumed his true from. Impressively, Hermione only flinched slightly before regaining her composure.

**_"CAN WE GO VISIT MR. HUGGLES?"_** Rex asked excitedly. Harry considered for a momentarily

"Alright, sure, but just for a little bit. I have to get up early tomorrow to finish my homework." Harry qualified his statement, but he doubted Rex heard anything after the second word.

**_"ARE YOU COMING TOO SQUEAKLES?"_** Rex turned towards the bushy haired girl, who shuddered as his malevolent red gaze fell upon her.

"S- sure." she managed to say, before taking refuge behind Harry. No matter what, she would always find Harry's friend to be terrifying. She followed after the duo, always making sure to keep Harry between her and Rex as much as possible. Harry gave Rex a look, who sighed, before shrinking down and climbing back into his bag.

**_HPaCT_**

"Harry, you know that this is the room the Headmaster told us to stay out of, right?" Hermione asked him after they arrived. "I know we've been in here before, but do you really think breaking the rules like this is a good idea?"

"The only thing in there is the dog, and Rex has been pretty good about keeping him under control." Harry answered easily, earning a sigh form his companion.

**_"that's right squeakles. he knows not to mess with me."_** Rex chipped in from his resting place in Harry's bag.

"We've been in there before, and nothing bad has happened." Harry said, fishing Rex out as he did, "I'm sure the warning was only because of the dog, and with Rex around, he's harmless, right?"

**_"RIGHT!"_** Rex shouted as he returned to his true, horrifying form, and squeezed through the door. There was a trio of whines as the Cerberus saw its tormentor return, and Harry and Hermione entered the room after it was properly cowed by Rex.

Rex led the dog around the room, constantly prompting it to perform various tricks, which met with varied results. While it responded fairly well to 'Stay,' most likely due to simply being too terrified to move, any other commands were met with more whining, much to Rex's frustration.

Hermione frowned as she looked, really looked at the room for the first time. For having such a vicious beast inside of it, it was surprisingly well kept. The tapestries were all intact, as were the few pieces of furniture. None of the... leavings... that one would expect for an animal cooped up for months on end. Sure, someone could come in and it up, but who would do that? Her gaze traveled the room, before falling to the ground, and fixating on a wooden square with an iron ring.

It was a door.

"Harry, did you know there's a trap door on the floor over there?" Hermione asked, pointing at the object of her attention. Harry followed her finger, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Well, I've only been in here a few times. Normally Rex comes here on his own, and to be honest, the dinosaur and three headed dog seemed a bit more important than a trap door." Harry said, "Plus, that's normally where the dog ends up cowering, so it was kind of hard to see."

Hermione sighed in exasperation, before admitting to herself that Rex caught one's attention a bit more than a trap door on the floor.

Harry's eyes gleamed with interest, "I wonder what's down there..."

"Harry, no. There is a reason why Professor Dumbledore told people to stay out of here, and now I don't think it was just because of the dog. I bet the dog is protecting whatever is underneath there!"

**_"COME ON SQUEAKLES, WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE?"_**

"I think I left if back at St. Mungo's." Hermione said.

**_"SHOULD WE GO BACK AND GET IT?"_**

"No!" Hermione shouted, exasperated, "Harry, there is a reason the dog is here, and I don't want to find out by getting strangled or chopped up, or eaten by something worse. Can you understand that?"

Harry sighed in defeat, "Alright, we won't explore it right now. I still have plenty of homework to do tomorrow, and it is pretty late already, so we'll save it for some other time."

Hermione sighed. It wasn't an ideal solution, but it meant that it would be left alone for now, and she would just have to be happy with that. "Thank you Harry, now I have to get back to Gryffindor Tower. It's already really late and I want to review my History of Magic essay one last time before I go to sleep."

Harry waved as Hermione departed, looking furtively down the corridor for Mrs. Norris or Filch as she scurried away.

**_"ARE WE REALLY GOING TO LEAVE IT ALONE?"_** Rex asked.

"For now at least. I wasn't joking about my homework, and I don't want to make her mad. Did you hear what the elves said she did to her housemate earlier today?"

Rex sighed loud enough to shake the solid wooden door, **_"I GUESS."_**

"Besides, maybe Hannah and the rest would want to explore it with us too."

_**"YOU'RE GOING TO INTRODUCE ME?"**_ Rex asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.

Harry considered for a moment, "I don't know if that would be the best idea. Remember what happened with Hermione?"

**_"...I GOT A PET?"_**

"She was sent to the loony bin. I don't want all of my friends to go crazy too."

_**"BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?"**_ Rex whined.

"You can come, but you'll just have to stay in my book bag, alright?" Harry tried to comfort the deadly monstrosity.

**_"YOU PROMISE?"_** Rex asked petulantly

"Of course, Rex." Harry smiled, "Now do you want to spend some more time with your dog, or do you want to"

**_"I THINK I'LL STAY WITH MR. HUGGLES SOME MORE. I'VE ALMOST TAUGHT HIM HOW TO DO FLIPS."_** Rex answered, completely oblivious to how little progress he had actually made with his pet. Harry nodded in acknowledgment, before heading back to his own dormitory.

**_HPaCT_**

Ron glared at Hermione as she re-entered the Gryffindor Common Room, but still smarting from his earlier defeat, remained in the corner, content to glower at her from afar. He felt his ears turn red as the embarrassment of how easily she dealt with him washed over him. He needed to do something about her, but charging headlong after her obviously wasn't going to work. What other options did he have? Ron mindlessly paged through the book in front of him, stewing over the dilemma he was faced with, occasionally imagining what it would be like to have her grovel in defeat at his hand. He kept turning those thoughts over and over in his head, long after the other students had retired for the night. It wasn't until hours later that he was finally distracted from his malevolent thoughts, by the sound of a certain pair of red heads descending from the staircase. Ron watched as his brothers exchanged some whispered words and a few sniggers, before heading toward the portrait hole.

"Hold on a minute!" he called out, stopping the Twins momentarily, as they turned to see who had spoken up.

"What do you need Ronnie-kins?" One of them asked, as they began to circle around him, moving in opposite directions from each other.

"Yes, how can your older brothers help out their ickle sibling?" the other asked from behind Ron.

"Homework help?" The first said as soon as Ron turned away.

"Need a map?"

"Something to eat perhaps?"

"Girl troubles?"

"Quidditch training?"

"A good hexing?"

"Saxophone lessons?"

"Stop it!" Ron shouted, finally fed up with their disorienting interrogation. "It's none of those things!"

"Then what is it?' the Twins asked in unison, stopping in front of Ron.

"I need help."

"We gathered that much. Help with what exactly?"

"It's Hermione. She's always bothering me and the blokes about homework and following the rules. Normally she shuts up after a bit or we complain about it enough, but now she's started hexing me!"

"Ah, so it is girl troubles. I thought so Fred." George, apparently, said.

"No, it's not!" Ron shouted angrily, before launching into a tirade about his encounter with the first year bookworm.

"She's always so irritating! In class she's always correcting the rest of us or showing off to the teacher. When we're in the halls she's shouting for us to follow the rules or hurry to class. Even here in the dorm she's always glaring at us and telling us to study! It's bloody maddening! Every moment of the day is just work, work, work with her, and whenever a bloke tried to have a bit of fun, she goes ballistic! I keep telling her to leave us alone and mind her own business, and that's normally enough, but now she's hexing me for that!"

George sighed before putting a comforting hand, as well as a spider, on Ron's shoulder. "Never pick on someone smarter than you brother dearest. They tend to know the most horrible hexes."

Ron sighed, "I'm not picking on her, I just want her to mind her own business. I can't just let her show me up like that! You must know something I can do!"

Fred and George exchanged a nefarious look, before Fred spoke up in a considering tone, "Well, it sounds to me that dear Ronald wants to follow us in the sacred art of pranking."

"Probably wants to be a bit more subtle about it, given his target is likely to hex him into bits if he gets caught." George said, sharing his twin's thoughtful tone.

"So we'll throw in a course of subterfuge free of charge." Fred declared grandly, "but first, he'll need to pass his initiation!"

Ron audibly gulped, as his mind filled with all of the potential horrors he was likely to suffer if he accepted their offer. For several long moments, he did nothing, before noticing the spider his brother had planting, shouting in mindless terror, and flailing his limbs in an effort to get it off. After finally escaping from it Ron was bent over, panting.

"Alright, I'm in." Ron said, looking up at his brothers with a determined gaze. "Do your worst, I'm not giving up."

Fred grinned proudly at Ron, before seizing his brother's hand in a firm shake. Almost immediately, he lit up like a Christmas tree as sparks flew out of his ears.

"First rule about pranking: never take things at face value. It makes it too easy. Now come on, we've got a lot of mischief to get up to tonight, and we're not going to slow down for you."

Ron waited until his body stopped twitching, before hurrying out of the portrait hole after them.

**_HPaCT_**

By the time Harry made it back to his room, everyone else was already asleep. Harry was about to join them, when he tripped over the small pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Remembering them from earlier, Harry moved them into his bed, where he tried to open them as quietly as possible.

They were about what he expected, a few knickknacks from trips or toys from Diagon Alley. Harry felt bad for not buying anything for them, and resolved to share some of the sweets Annabel's mother had practically forced upon him.

The last package was different from the others, it was significantly larger, for one, and the note didn't match the handwriting of any of his housemates that he knew of. He curiously opened it, and found a silvery substance within.

Harry draped the material over himself and was shocked when his body vanished underneath it. He yanked his hand out from beneath it and was relieved to see that it was still there. Several more minutes of experimenting with it showed there wasn't any apparent danger with it. Harry grinned as he realized what it was he had.

There was only one thing he could say.

"Wicked."


	14. Chapter 14

Hey look! A new chapter! Apologies for taking so long. Looking for an apartment and a new job, while still working my currents jobs doesn't leave as much free time as I would like. This chapter basically wraps up Harry's first year, and the next chapter will probably cover the events of the summer holidays. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it will be nice to play around with the story some more, without having to be concerned about how it's advancing the story and following the guidelines of the original story.

Hope you enjoy!

**_HPaCT_**

Dear Annie,

I hope that you've been doing well. Hogwarts has been the same, though people are starting to worry about the end of the year exams. Hermione has been stressing about them since the winter holidays ended, and now that other people are studying too, she's gone into overdrive. Speaking of Hermione, she noticed a trap door in the room where they keep Rex's pet, and I think we're going to explore it soon. I don't know if I'm going to bring my Housemates with me, since there are probably a lot of dangerous things like Mr. Huggles down there, and they don't have something like Rex to protect them.

Anyways, just a couple more months until the summer holidays, hope to see you soon!

~Harry

Harry handed the completed letter to Hedwig, who hooted and took flight. He watched her for a moment before turning his attention to his homework. The end of the year was rapidly approaching, and many students were beginning to follow Hermione's example from months ago, and settling down to study. Harry didn't mind sitting down to review, but a part of him missed the opportunity to further explore Hogwarts. Most of the expedition teams had dissolved in the weeks after the initial flurry of activity, after the easily found rooms had been filled in. While a few groups and individuals had persisted, with final exams looming ever closer, fewer and fewer of them were able to spare time for exploration.

With a sigh, Harry reasoned that they had six whole years of school left, and It wasn't like he lost contact with his friends. While wandering the castle was far less frequent, it had been replaced with study and review sessions, and while they were somewhat less fun, it was still nice to spend time with his friends.

Giving the clock a quick glance as he departed for the library, Harry noted that it would be some time before Hermione finished her own class. Having nothing better to do, Harry began to head back to his dormitory, in hopes of distracting one of his fellow first years into one last adventure before the end of the year exams began.

_**HPaCT**_

"Please hand in your homework assignments, before we begin today's lesson." McGonagall said as her students filed in. Dutifully, the Gryffindors placed their parchment on her desk, until Hermione approached the desk.

Hermione reached into her bag for her homework, and shrieked, staring at the blank roll of parchment in her hands, before frantically diving back into her bag.

"Is there a problem, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked as the first year continued to search.

"My homework! I know I finished it, but I can't find it!" Hermione exclaimed, nearly panicking, "Please Professor McGonagall, I must have left in back in the dormitory, if you let me go back there-"

"Miss Granger, your homework is right here." McGonagall said, causing the young girl to freeze. Slowly, she looked at the blank scroll, only to see it completely filled with her tiny, neat writing.

""B- but..."

"I am well aware that you are already concerned about the end of year exams, but it seems that you could use a break. Why don't you stop by my office after classes are finished, and we'll discuss it."

"Y- yes professor." Hermione said, shakily taking her seat.

Unnoticed by either of them, Ron snickered in the corner.

**_HPaCT_**

Harry sighed. He had no luck recruiting anyone else to join him, and not for the first time, wished he hadn't been sorted into the house of dedicated hard workers. It seemed like everyone had settled in reading a textbook or revising an essay. While he could do the same, he just couldn't bring himself to sit down and study.

With another exasperated sigh, Harry stood up, and making sure Rex was safely secured in his book bag, ventured out into the halls of Hogwarts. A light rumble from his gut gave Harry his destination. Maybe a quick bite to eat in the kitchen would help him focus his mind for a bit.

The elves were helpful as always, and Harry found himself idly glancing through one of his books as he munched on a treacle tart. He only skimmed the text, using it to occupy himself while he tried to determine what to do next.

No one was available for explorations deeper into Hogwarts, which meant that it was just Harry and Rex. With the end of the year looming closer, and the endless pressure to study for exams growing greater each day, this would probably be the last opportunity to see what was beneath Mr. Huggles before the summer holidays. The more he thought about it, the more it filled his head, until Harry could think of nothing else.

"Hey Rex?"

_**"yeah harry?"**_

"Do you want to visit Mr. Huggles tonight?"

**_"i thought you'd never ask."_**

**_HPaCT_**

Hermione just couldn't understand what was making today so horrible. Every time she turned around, it seemed like something was going wrong. First her homework seemed to vanish, only to reappear on the parchment moments later. Then she somehow got turned around walking to potions class, and lost ten points for being late. These and half a dozen different incidents had piled up to ruin her day. Even in the common room, something just seemed to grind on her nerves, even though she was completely alone. With a scream of frustration, she hurled her books away from her, before realizing what she had just done.

Hermione immediately began to gather up her scattered books, frantically checking to make sure no harm had come to them. After assuring herself that all was well, she sighed, slumping back into her chair. It seemed like nothing was going her way today, almost as if she were...

"Cursed..." Hermione muttered to herself suspiciously. Despite spending nearly a year studying magic, it still managed to slip her mind that magic was indeed real, and a major part of her life. Glancing around to confirm that there was no one else around, Hermioen began casting every detection spell she knew. She allowed herself a dark grin as one of her books began to faintly glow. It was times like these that spending so much time in the library was completely worthwhile.

A cursory exam of the book revealed that someone had cast an irritability hex on it, along with an ill-luck enchantment. Hermione's smile quickly transformed into a frown, as she tried to think who the culprit could be. These sorts of spells weren't normally taught to first years, and outside of Ravenclaw, she didn't know anyone with enough drive and dedication to research them. It could be one of the older students, Hermione admitted to herself, but the likelihood of that was slim. Outside of the Twins, most of them couldn't be bothered with the younger years, and the Twins weren't much for subtlety.

With a sigh, she shifted her thinking. Who would want to cast these spells on her? Who would want to ruin her day? She couldn't deny that she had a tendency to motivate the rest of her year when the opportunity presented itself, and she could be a little overzealous, but ever since the last incident with Ron, she had done her best to keep her opinions on that particular matter to herself.

Ever since that incident with Ron... Hermione's eyes narrowed, as a clear suspect began to emerge. She had had conflicts with nearly all of her fellow first years,normally when she was trying to make them study, but only Ron went out of his way to make her life difficult.

Still, given that they mainly fought over his poor study habits, it was a bit strange that he would know something like this. Sure, he could have gone to the library to learn it out of sheer spite, but Hermione didn't think even that would be enough to make him pick up a book for something other than schoolwork.

Someone must be helping him, teaching him spells beyond the scope of their first year education. He wasn't the type to research them on his own, but he could probably swallow his pride and ask for help, especially if it was family, like the Twins.

Still, all she had were her suspicions, and as vindicating as it would be to simply hex him the next time she saw him, Hermione

Hermione hid herself in the corner of the common room, behind a massive pile of books. If Ron was the one behind her recent troubles, then she would get to the bottom of it soon enough.

**_HPaCT_**

Harry waited until everyone else began to leave the common room, exhausted from studying. Despite the fact that he had been trying to do the same, the excitement of finally finding out what the big secret beneath Mr. Huggles was kept him wide awake and alert.

"Hey Hermione, Rex and I were going to see what was hidden underneath Mr. Huggles, do you want to come with?" Harry asked the bushy haired bookworm.

"No... not right now Harry." Hermione said hurriedly, not wanting to lose track of her target. "Sorry!" she offered, before hastily chasing after her Housemate.

Harry watched her until she too vanished from sight, before shrugging. While it would have been nice to have the extra company, he hadn't really expected anything different. If anything, he was surprised to see Hermione of all people out after hours without having to wheedle or cajole her into joining him.

**_HPaCT_**

**_"HELLO MR. HUGGLES! HOW ARE YOU TODAY?"_** Rex cooed, causing his previously sleeping pet to jump, before cowering before him. Harry watched as Rex played with the giant dog for a few minutes, realizing that it was easier to let Rex have his fun before getting down to business.

Harry watched with some amusement as Mr. Huggles was put through his paces. While the dog was still completely terrified of Rex, it had learned to ignore the immediate terror enough to do what it was told, and thus avoid the far worse terror of facing an angry Rex.

**_"GOOD DOGGIE, NOW GO TAKE A NAP. DADDY HAS WORK TO DO!"_** Rex said with glee, and the cerberus was only too glad to scurry off to the corner and curl up into a ball. Harry felt a familiar flash of pity for the beast, before turning his gaze to the trap door. With a heave, he pulled it open, and stared down at a seemingly endless tunnel.

"Okay Rex, before we move forward, I think we should discuss what we're going to-"

**_"WHEE!"_** Rex cried out, already plunging down the tube. Harry allowed himself a long suffering sigh, before sliding down the tube himself.

By the time Harry had descended after his friend, Rex was already munching on some sort of plant. He hadn't bothered to incinerate it before snatching it up in his jaws, and seemed quite content to savor his unexpected meal.

**_"I LIKE THE WAY IT WRIGGLES WHEN I EAT IT."_** Rex said, as he took another massive bite from it. Harry smiled for a moment, before looking around, seeing just what lay beneath the trap door. It was far less impressive than he had expected. He had been hoping for a massive hallway, lined with deadly traps and countless monsters, but all that seemed to be there, aside from Rex's snack, was a door leading to another room.

Harry took a moment to recover from his disappointment, before motioning Rex to follow after him.

The sound of flapping wings filled the air of the next room, and harry paused to look at the countless flying keys overhead. He was puzzled to what their purpose was, but after realizing the next door was locked, and spotting a few brooms sitting next to it, it became obvious.

"Alright, I think we need-" Harry began, before a loud cracking sound. He turned to see what had happened, and saw Rex standing sheepishly in front of the shattered door.

Rex grinned, **_"SORRY."_**

Harry resisted the urge to sigh, "It's fine. Really. Let's just keep moving."

The next room contained a massive collection of chess pieces, all of which turned to look at him as the door creaked open. Harry paused to look at the board, the Black King stood in front of the door leading to the next room, and unsheathed its sword and waved in menacingly at Harry, as if it knew he was thinking of skipping whatever challenge this was.

**_"PLAYING CHESS IS TOO HARD. LET'S JUST SMASH IT._**" Rex complained as Harry stared at the expansive board, thinking about his options.

Harry considered for a moment. He had never played before, and wasn't familiar with all of the rules. Besides, it wasn't like letting Rex bulldoze his way through the obstacles wasn't working. With a shrug, he said, "Alright."

Despite being nothing more than animated rocks, Harry thought he saw an expression of fear on them as Rex walked forward. With a joyous roar, the monstrous dinosaur tore into the stone soldiers, covering the floor with half shattered faces and chunks of rubble.

The next room contained nothing besides an unconscious troll. Harry was smart enough to tell Rex to leave it alone for the moment, and proceeded through the door on the other side.

This room seemed to be empty, save for a small table with several vials on it. Harry moved closer to investigate, but as soon as he drew close enough to examine it, a sea of flames erupted around them. Hsarry looked around for some way out of it, but they were completely enveloped. Harry began to turn look at the table for clues on how to escape their predicament, before Rex spoke up.

**_"I GOT THIS."_** Rex said, flames dripped from his slavering jaws.

"Rex, I don't think you can put out fire using... well, fire." Harry said, earning a petulant look from his comrade. "Look, I'm sure one of these bottles has some way around this-"

**_"NO! I CAN TOTALLY DO IT!"_** Rex protested. The monstrous dinosaur inhaled deeply, dark flames flickering in its mouth. With a bestial roar, Rex unleashed a massive torrent of flames, his own fires devouring the magical ones surrounding their platform.

"You burned fire." Harry stated, torn between awe and disbelief.

**_"OF COURSE. I CAN DO ANYTHING."_** Rex answered smugly. Harry sighed in response, finally settling on disbelief, before walking forward, Rex following behind.

**_HPaCT_**

"Well, little brother, how has your day been going?"

Ron grinned. "Pretty well I'd say. I didn't cause nearly as much mayhem as the two of you, but at least I managed to avoid getting caught."

"Getting caught only counts if Filch gives you detention. If he can't drag us to his office to do it, then we didn't get caught."

"Whatever."

"So, what sort of trouble did you manage to cook up, exactly?"

"Wasn't one of your rules to never speak about your pranks?" Ron asked, earning a chuckle form his brothers, "Well, let's just say that a few people got taken down a peg or two, and leave it at that. I just wish I had gotten started sooner in the year. Now, I'll have to wait until next year..."

"Don't worry Ron, we'll give you plenty of practice over the holidays."

"Cleaning up the messes will be a good learning experience for you!"

As Ron grumbled under his brothers' laughter, Hermione's eyes narrowed. It seemed her guess had been correct. Ronald Weasley was the source of her poor luck, and it looked as if he had no intention of stopping anytime soon, if his conversation with his siblings was anything to judge by.

"Well, I must say, you've done a decent job for a first time prankster."

"Granted, you did have the mentorship of two highly qualified experts to help you along and avoid some of the common pitfalls of the consummate prankster, but fairly impressive nonetheless."

"However, as for not getting caught... You should really be a bit more aware of your surrounding Ronnie-kins." One of them said, causing Hermione to pale.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"A true prankster always makes sure that no one is watching them, at least until the prank is accomplished." The other Twin answered, waving his wand and muttering a spell under his breath. Suddenly, Hermione's clothes had a mind of their own. They twisted and turned, trying to force her to walk how they wanted. The first year struggled, but only managed to lose her balance and fall out of her hiding place. As she fell to the floor in disarry, she had to sense to pull out her wand. While Hermione was sure she didn't make for the most threatening spectacle while she was sprawled on the floor, she wasn't going to let that stop her.

"Well well, if it isn't Miss Hermione Granger. Ron has told us so much about you." one of the Twins said pleasantly, as if talking about the weather.

"Care for a hand?" the other asked

"I don't need help from you!" Hermione snapped, getting to her feet and fixing her robes as best she could without losing sight of them. "And if you"

"Why whatever are you talking about?" Ron asked with false innocence dripping from his every word.

"I'll get you for this Ronald Weasley!" Hermione glared at him, the words for a particularly uncomfortable hex rising on her lips.

Ron grinned, "You may be better at spellwork than me, but my brothers leave you in the dust! Do you really think you can handle all three of us?"

Fred and George exchanged a look, before speaking in unison, "I think you have the wrong idea, brother dearest. She's your enemy, Ron. We don't mind giving you a few tips or hints, but we're not fighting your battles for you."

"Huh?" Ron said in surprise. While Hermione remained silent, she was stunned as well.

"There are many ways to determine which of the two of you is better. You could compare your end of the year exam scores after the holidays, you could continue hexing each other until one of you gives up..." the twin on the left said, casually strolling across the room.

"...or you can see which of you is better at evading Filch and Mrs. Norris." the other concluded, before knocking over a suit of armor. As it fell, it bumped into another nearby suit, which in turn hit another. Like giant, metal dominoes, armor fell one after another, drowning them in a cacophony of clanking.

With matching looks of horror, the two first years watched in disbelief, as the twins grinned, then dashed out of the room. They followed after them, but by the time they had crossed the room, the Twins were gone, and in the distance, they could hear Filch shouting about their fate when he caught them.

Hermione and Ron gulped, and shared a glare, before sprinting off in opposite directions.

**_HPaCT_**

"I'm just saying, you should let me have some of the fun too. What's the point of me coming along if you're going to just smash through everything without letting me lift a finger?" Harry lectured his partner. Having a monster was great, but Rex had a tendency to do whatever he liked, and in this case, it had spoiled most of the adventure for Harry. Sure, they moved along faster than they would have if harry had tried to solve the puzzles and trials, but now harry felt like the third wheel, and there were only two of them?

Once again resisting the urge to sigh, Harry looked around the new room. There were no other doors, so it seemed that this was the end of the trials and puzzles that had been laid out in the previous rooms. The only thing in theis room was a sizable mirror, and, Harry noticed belatedly, his Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor.

"Professor Quirrel?" Harry asked in disbelief. Of all the things he expected to find, his timid teacher was not among them.

"Ah. Mr. Potter, a not altogether unexpected surprise." the Professor said without looking away from the mirror.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came for what rightfully belongs to my master. An item that can restore him to his full, resplendent glory." Quirrel said, slowly turning to face his student. "Soon, the world will once against tremble in fear of th- ACK!" he nearly shrieked, noticing Rex for the first time.

**_"HI."_** Rex said, waving a massive claw.

"What foul sorcery is this?!" Quirrel demanded, drawing his wand. He cast a number of spells on the eldritch beast, all to no effect.

**_"HEE HEE. THAT TICKLES."_** Rex giggled, his deep, booming voice making it sound all the more disturbing. While he seemed unconcerned with the magic being cast upon him, Harry knew that it was only a matter of time before Quirrel found something that would work on him.

"Get him Rex." Harry said, without a trace of fear in his voice. Quirrel's face flashed with terror for a moment, before Rex stepped into the center of the room, and roared. Faster then Quirrel could react, Rex' claws closed around him and tore him to sheds. Within seconds, all that remained of the professor was a heap of bloody clothes and cooling flesh.

Harry stepped around his remains, and moved up to look at the mirror. It was ornate, and had some sort of inscription along the bottom, but overall it seemed fairly ordinary. It was only when he looked at his reflection that he noticed something was off.

"What have you done to me?!" A voice boomed from Quirrel's remains, cutting Harry's examination short. Harry spun around and saw a black cloud began to pour from the countless cuts and tears on his body, struggling to pull it back together. As the shambling corpse struggled to its feet, there was a sickening snap, as his head twisted around, and Quirrel's turban fell off, revealing a warped visage hidden beneath it.

"Damn you Potter! I will not be denied my revenge!" the face shouted, moving towards the shocked young boy. "When I've finished with you, tales of your suffering will be hear at the four corners of the earth! Mothers will speak in hushed tones of your example for why they should accept my rule! I shall rip your very soul asunder, so even in death you will writhe in agony!"

Unfortunately, threatening Harry was among the more foolish choices it could have made, several steps more suicidal than jumping into a vat of flesh melting acid. Rex's eye locked onto the corpse, like a predator stalking a particularly vulnerable prey. As if sensing its impending doom, the face slowly turned to look at the monster.

"Stay back! Get away!" the face shouted, a hint of fear in its voice. It brandished its wand at him, attempting to succeed where Quirrel had failed.

Rex shrugged off the deadly spells the same way a person might shrug off a light rain shower, before lunging forward, and grabbing the unfortunate wizard in his jaws. The face had only a bare moment to howl in terror and despair, before Rex closed his mouth, and ended its facsimile of life.

However, that was not the end of the horror show. The dark cloud began to pour from Quirrel's corpse, twisting as it tried to escape Rex's mouth. Harry watched in morbid fascination as the black cloud shrieked and writhed, trying desperately to escape from the jaws of the abomination. However, whatever dark magic comprised its existence, it was not enough to escape from the otherworldly aberration that was Rex. Its only salvation was when Rex chose to spit out it mangle remains

**_"UGH. WHATEVER IT IS TASTES LIKE LIVER, AND NOT THE FRESH FROM THE STILL LIVING BODY LIVER. LIKE, WEEK OLD LIVER THAT'S BEEN LEFT OUT IN THE SUN. MIXED WITH ONIONS."_** Rex expressed his distaste towards the thing he had been chewing, scrabbling at his tongue with his massive forearms as he tried to get the disgusting flavor out of his mouth.

The black cloud howled as it twisted and shuddered, trying to escape from the room. It's mangled form writhed in agony as it tried to repair itself, to no avail. With a high pitched squeal, it sundered itself apart, its shattered remains scattering to the corners of the room. The largest portion sunk into the ground, while several smaller fragments slithered into cracks or holes.

Only a bare fraction of the original remained, far too damage to anything other than twitch as it slowly dissipated. Underneath the sounds of Rex's complains, Harry could swear he could hear a faint screaming as it faded into oblivion.

Harry stared for several long minutes at the place where the cloud had once sat, and at Quirrel's mangled remains. This was the first time Harry had seen death, seen someone killed right in front of him. Sure, Quirrel probably would have done the same thing to him, if not worse, but seeing the life be torn out of his was disconcerting to say the least. Seeing Rex completely destroy a life in seconds like that...

Maybe Harry needed to keep Rex on a tighter leash.

Maybe there was something to be said for doing things on his own.

Harry shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts away. Now wasn't the time to worry about anything like that. It was getting late, and they needed to get back to the dormitories. Overall this adventure hadn't been anything like what he had expected. Maybe he could come back again some time in the future, but for now, getting back to the dormitories was the only thing on his mind.

**_HPaCT_**

The next day passed uneventfully. Hermione had somehow managed to avoid getting caught by Filch or his cat, but was disappointed to see Ron had done the same. Classes had officially ended, and with nothing left but exams, she didn't have time to play whatever game he was planning. Even Ron was busying studying now, so she didn't have to worry about any more tricks for the time being, but she still felt it would be appropriate to send him a message.

With a steely sense of purpose, Hermione abandoned her books and marched over to Ron.

"Can I help you?" Ron asked, not even glancing up from his game of chess with Seamus. The sudden reversal from his usual hot tempered reaction only served to fuel Hermione's fury.

"I'm on to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Bookworm." Ron said easily, "Though if you've taken to following me around after hours, you might want to stop carrying so many books with you. It'll make it easier for Filch to catch you. And that means Gryffindor loses points, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

With great effort, Hermione resisted the urge to lash out, drew in a breath, and calmly released it. Then, coolly locking eyes with the red head in front of her, she offered a reply.

"I don't know the specifics of how you did it, but I know you did, and the rest is only a matter of time." she began, "All I wanted was to be left alone, just me and my books, but you're just going to hold your grudge until I give up. Well, that's not going to happen. Anything you can do, I can do better."

"It's too bad that the summer holidays are just around the corner. Once I finish the summer homework, I'll have nothing better to do but research how to Destroy you." Hermione concluded

Impressively, Ron managed to keep his composure until she marched out of the room, evening finishing his match with Seamus before heading up to his dormitory. Only then did he allow his fear to show.

"So, she's going to spend her summer plotting against me." Ron said to himself, "Alright, if that's how she wants it, I'm happy to give her the same!" Ron's hand tightened into a fist as he began plotting for his own holidays.

**_HPaCT_**

The few remaining days passed rather uneventfully. Exams came and went, and while Hermione and a few of the other studious students continued to fret about them, the majority of them were looking forward to the holidays more than anything else. While a number of students what had happened to Quirrel once he didn't show up for the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, Dumbledore explained that he had been called away for some urgent business, and that Professor McGonagall would be presiding over the exams in his place.

Harry, for his part, had the disturbing thoughts regarding what was beneath the trapdoor begin to fade. Exams had taken up all of his attention, and once they were passed, it seemed less real than before. Part of him wondered if Quirrel was even a human, or if he was some monster like Rex. Even wizards didn't come back from the dead like that, did they?

It became easier to put it out of his mind, especially with the last minute rush to make sure everything was packed for the trip back home. Harry suppressed a yawn as he struggled to pack in all of his schoolbooks into his trunk, and gave his room a last look to make sure nothing important had been forgotten. Dragging his trunk behind him, Harry passed the last hour before the train's arrival playing exploding snap and exchanging numbers with the muggleborn Hufflepuffs.

The train ride passed uneventfully. Harry spent most of it catching up on sleep lost during exams, only waking a few times to Hermione's chattering. It wasn't until the final blast of the train horn that Harry fully emerged from his stupor, and staggered off of the Hogwarts Express.

Walking seemed to reinvigorate him, and as he passed through the barrier between nine and three quarters and the rest of the station, Harry felt more like his old self. He looked around, and spotted Annabel waving frantically to get his attention. To her side, his aunt stood rigidly, as if she had been turned to stone.

As he drew nearer, Annabel unleashed a storm of chatter upon him, filling him in on every minute detail of what had been happening in her life. Long used to her ability to rant for hours on end when the mood struck her, Harry just nodded in agreement as he loaded his trunk into the car, before turning to face his aunt.

Petunia smiled at Harry, much in the way one might smile to a serial killer, in hopes that being polite and unobtrusive would keep something horrible form happening. Harry responded with a wide grin of his own, and heedless of the terrified twitching it caused in his aunt, quickly jumped into the back seat with Annabel and began telling her of his own most recent adventures in the brief moments when she paused to draw breath.

Hogwarts had made for an eventful school year, but nothing could compare to the excitement of the summer holidays. As they left the station behind, Harry quickly confirmed that he had the phone numbers to his housemates who lived in the muggle world, as well as Hermione's. Spending time with his friends without worrying about schoolwork or teachers was bound to be more fun, especially since he had so many more people to enjoy it with.

One thing was for sure; the holidays were sure to be fun.


	15. Interlude 1

He suffered.

The being that had once been known as Lord Voldemort writhed in phantasmal pain, as his very soul was rent asunder. Torn to shreds, each shard containing a fragment of his mind, each suffering.

Reunion was impossible. Not in this form anyways. For now it was too painful, and the presence of the other incarnations disgusted him, reminding him of what had happened. The urge to slaughter them all, reduce them to nothing but memory was overpowering. At the same time, overhwelming fear of the stronger remains flooded through him

So he fled.

The remains of the Dark Lord scattered, too consumed by hate and fear of their other selves to consider collaboration. Countless weaker ones began to dissolve, incapable of holding their existence together. Others simply infested whatever simple life forms presented themselves, using a host to prolong their own fading lives.

The strongest simply fled, seeking out a safe haven, far from hogwarts, the seat of Dumbledore's power, and from the monstrous beast that dwelled there. The beast that had reduced the greatest wizard of all time to little more than a collection of screaming voices. They would flee, find some place to gather their strength, and then return for their revenge.

Their failure was only due to ignorance. He had been away from the wizarding world for too long. Too many secrets lay undiscovered, or lost to time. There were always fools unworthy of power who would seek it, and they would provide it, giving them a bare taste in exchange for their servitude, helping them attain their goals and petty desires, untl they were consumed, and Lord Voldemort would be reborn.

They would not perish. They had something burning inside them far too strong to allow it to be extinguished. Something that would allow Lord Voldemort to rise up, greater and more terrible than before, to lay waste to all that would stand against him and refuse to acknowledge his right to rule them.

Madness.

And Hate.


	16. Interlude 2

For those of you who didn't realize, yesterday was April Fool's Day, so I uploaded a joke chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the sudden interlude. However, since April Fool's is now over, I've taken it down and replaced it with another interlude which is more in line with the main story, namely, showing what happened to Voldemort.

This chapter is likewise an interlude, detailing what Hagrid spent doing this year. Since he didn't befriend Harry, there wasn't anyone around to tell him that raising a dragon was a bad idea, and well...

The next few chapters may be additional interludes tying up loose ends or showcasing other characters reactions to first yea,r such as Dumbledore. After I get that all in order, I'll have to cook up a summer adventure for Harry and his friends, and then we're off to second year!

Enjoy!

Tears filled Hagrid's eyes as the egg in the hearth began to shake and crack. Finally, a lifelong dream of his was about to realized. He could barely restrain himself from cheering as a pair of tiny claws emerged from the egg, slowly widening the hole they had created until a small, scaly head emerged, and let out a squeak.

Hagrid nearly danced around his hut with excitement. As the infant dragon continued to work its way out of its shell, he picked up one of nearly a dozen books he had acquired about dragon rearing, before rereading the section on infant care for what was likely the hundredth time. The baby dragon, unconcerned with the antics of the massive, fleshy creature before it, settled down to devour the gooey innards of its former home, before curling up in the fire for a nap.

HPaCT

Hagrid spent the next few weeks almost exclusively in his hut, feeding his infant pet a mixture of blood and brandy. Almost every waking moment was devoted towards watching the small critter explore it new world and helping it as best he could. The dragon seemed to accept his help only begrudgingly, often trying to bite his fingers or breath flame at him whenever Hagrid crowded too close for its comfort. Hagrid took all if in stride, and even seemed to enjoy the attacks, saying his dragon was certain to be a strong fighter when it was grown.

Finally, it seemed the dragon, which he had affectionately named Norbert, was large enough to take care of himself for a time, and Hagrid resumed his duties, leaving Fang at the tender mercies of his new companion. Even then, Hagrid would often go back to the hut to check up on the two of them, often having to separate the two of them whenever the dragon decided Fang was a nuisance. It was after one of these fateful fights that Norbert lashed out at Hagrid and finally managed to break his skin. While Hagrid brushed it off as youthful exuberance, the venom coursing through Norbert was potent, and while he didn't feel any immediate effects, even Hagrid inhuman durability wasn't enough to stand against a dragon.

HPaCT

"Hagrid, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked his groundskeeper with concern.

"Eh? Yeah, I'm alright Dumbledore." Hagrid drunkenly waved off his concerns before stumbling into a row of armor. "Just stayed up a bit too late tending the grounds last night."

"Are you sure my boy?" Dumbledore asked, drawing closer to the groundskeeper to examine him, "it seems you have a rather nasty bite on your hand here."

"Do I?" Hagrid asked, his head swimming, "Must have been a... centaur. They're famous for their bites after all."

"Hagrid, I must insist you let me take you to see Poppy."

"I've never been better Professor! I'm hale and hearty as a... a thing that is hearty. And hale." Hagrid replied, his ability to communicate continuing to deteriorate.

Dumbledore didn't waste any more time, casting a levitation charm on his incapacitated groundskeeper and quickly walking towards the hospital wing.

"Dumbledore, what brings you to my office?" Madame Pomphrey inquired. It was unusual to see the Headmaster in the hospital wing unless he was visiting someone, and for once, no students were sick or injured.

"Bad news I'm afraid. Something seems to be wrong with Rubeus here, and I was hoping you could help him." Dumbledore said, indicating the floating man behind him.

"Well, let's have a look at him." The Mediwitch said, waving her wand over him as she ran her diagnostics. With each spell, her face grew paler and paler, as the exactly state Hagrid was in became more and more apparent.

"Hagrid, you've been poisoned!" Madame Pomphrey exclaimed in a shocked tone. "Given your heritage, just what has venom powerful enough to incapacitate you like this?!"

"Centaurs!" Hagrid exclaimed, before falling to the floor in a fit of giggles.

"Can you help him Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, his concern growing as Hagrid began to try and converse with the potted plant in the corner.

"Of course I can help him Headmaster. I always keep my potions, antidotes and antivenoms fully stocked. This isn't the first time someone has come into my office is this sort of condition. I'm just surprised he's still alive! Judging by that wound, he was bitten a few days ago, and I've never heard of a poison working so slowly before!"

"Well, given his mother, it's not too surprising. Her people are unusually resistant to most forms of harm."

"I suppose you're right." Madame Pomphrey admitted, before forcing a number of potions down her patients throat. Several tense minutes passed, before both Mediwitch and Headmaster relaxed as Hagrid seemed to become more himself.

"Dumbledore? What happened?" Hagrid asked, his head clear for the first time in what felt like years.

"Rubeus, don't you remember?" Dumbledore inquired, looking over his groundskeeper with concern. "I found you wandering the halls, muttering to yourself. I thought a quick visit to Poppy might be in order."

"Hagrid, you have enough venom in you to kill a man twice your size. If it wasn't for you mother's blood and your habit of acquiring dangerous creatures, you would have died days ago. I suppose this is the results of your latest pet?" Madame Pomphrey interjected, her icy gaze fixed on the unfortunate groundskeeper.

"What? Of course not! Taking care of Fluffy is a full time job!' Hagrid replied, sweat forming on his brow as the venom.

"Oh really, and just what could be deadly enough to lethally poison you?!" Pomphrey demanded.

"Well, I don't know!" Hagrid protested, thinking far quicker than he was used to."There's all sorts of strange creatures and plants in the forest, and I've been spending more time in there than usual trying to find whatever's killing the unicorns. I guess I must have stumbled into something or been bitten and not noticed."

Madame Pomphrey looked at him the way a predator might eye a particularly juicy prey, while Hagrid squirmed under her remorseless gaze. After what seemed like an eternity, she sighed in defeat, "Well, you're a grown man. You can keep your secrets for now I suppose, but if I find you back here after getting poisoned again, you can be sure I will look into whatever project you're working on Rubeus"

"Right. Not a problem." Hagrid answered, "I'll be sure to wear full protective gear next time too."

"See that you do."

HPaCT

Hagrid didn't fully relax until he had returned home, and confirmed that both Norbert and Fang were alright. Both of them were fast asleep, though it seemed Fang was suffering from some sort of nightmare. Offering a comforting pat on the head to his slumbering pet, Hagrid settled down into a chair and pulled one of his many dragon books and began to read.

Hagrid frowned as he reviewed the section on Norwegian Ridgebacks, before abruptly seizing Norbert's tail and unceremoniously lifting it up. He ignored the infuriated shrieks of his beloved pet as he glanced back at the book, before flushing in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that boy- er, I guess girl." Hagrid apologized to the livid reptile, "I guess I should start calling you Norberta now." he chuckled nervously, heedless of the building flames in his pet's mouth.

HPaCT

Weeks passed without further incident. Hagrid was much more cautious around the newly renamed Norberta, and always kept a pair of dragon hide gloves nearby in case he needed them. They were relatively calm, with only a minimum amount of furniture needing to be replaced, but all that changed in a single day.

"Look at you go girl!" Hagrid nearly howled as he watch Norberta's first flight. Tears of joy filled up his eyes as his newest pet soared over

"You keep going girl! Fly as far as your heart desires right one... over... the school..." Hagrid trailed off, realizing just where she was heading. While he was sure that the students would love the opportunity to see a real, living dragon, he knew there were some who wouldn't be too fond of the idea. Hagrid spent the next several minutes waiting anxiously for Norberta to return, growing ever more worried as time passed.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, he saw a speck in the distance. Relief surged through him, as Norberta clumsily landed in the pumpkin patch, but Hagrid knew that this was an important moment, one where everything could change..

Hagrid worriedly paced inside his hut. Ever since Norberta had learned to fly, she had been spending more and more time outside of the house. He had tried to barricade her inside, but she had simply torched a hole in the wall and escaped. It had taken hours to fix, and the hut was more ramshackle than it had ever been before. It took forever to coax Norberta back into the hut, and even longer to get her to settle down for a heart to heart. Hagrid paced back and forth in the hut, trying to think of the words he needed to say to his beloved dragon.

"Girl, you know I love you right?" Hagrid asked with tears in his eyes. Norberta looked at him blankly, before belching forth a ball of flame.

"I know that you want to stay here with mommy, but you're a growing girl! You need your space, and it was wrong of me to try and keep you here." Hagrid continued. "The forest has plenty of space for you to explore, and there's always something to eat lurking around. Now I know it's dangerous, but you've grown big enough that most things won't bother you, and if it ever gets too dangerous, you can always fly away." Hagrid continued, before bursting into tears.

"Oh Norberta, I don't know how I'm going to live without you!" Hagrid bawled, wrapping his arms around his beloved dragon. Norberta hissed, and attempted to claw her assailant, but Hagrid had already wrapped himself around her, making such an attack difficult.

"Now, I've got arrangements to take care of first." Hagrid sniffled, "Getting enough food to last you a few weeks while you get used to your new home, and some blankets in case it gets cold, but once all of that is taken care of, we're off, understand me girl?"

Norberta idly puffed a small fireball, which Hagrid took as her assent.

HPaCT

"Come on girl." Hagrid coaxed the Ridgeback, aided by well timed pulls to the rope tied around her neck. "I know you love living with me and Fang, but you're getting to big for the hut, and I can't feed you myself anymore. Now Mommy didn't have much time to teach you to hunt, but I'll bring you a boar or something every week until you get the hang of it."

Norberta hissed at him, but allowed the massive man to lead her into the Forbidden Forest. It took what seemed like hours before Hagrid was satisfied they were both deep enough to avoid any trouble with the school, and isolated enough from the centaurs to avoid trouble with them. Hagrid tied Norberta to a nearby tree, before pulling out his hatchet, and hacking away at the surrounding forest, until he managed to create a small clearing.

"Now this is only temporary. The Forbidden Forest is massive, so I'm sure we'll be able to find you a nice cave soon." Hagrid said as he released Norberta to explore, "I'll come back and we'll make a weekend of finding a better place for you!"

Norberta was content to ignore him, choosing instead to shred some of the trees still standing with her claws.

"Don't worry! I'll visit you all the time!" Hagrid promised as he began to head back towards his hut, leaving Norberta behind to continue exploring her new environment.

"Try not to use your breath too much! The forest is made of wood after all!" Hagrid called out one last time as he tried to resist the urge to cry. As much as he loved Norberta, she deserved to be free, to be able to roam the wilds like the rest of her kind, unrestrained by chains or love, running wild through the forest.

...right?


	17. Chapter 15

Alright we've got another chapter, and this one will probably be the last summer interlude, which means that next chapter will be the start of second year.

Apologies for delays, but I've been preparing to move into a new apartment, and there have been issues with the previous tenant, so I keep having to rearrange my schedule. Theoretically, it will be settled in early June, but if it keep up, we might have to get back the security deposit and start looking for another one. On the bright side, ACen is this weekend, so I get to take some time off and enjoy myself for a bit.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

**_Harry Potter and Childish Things: Chapter Fifteen_**

The summer holidays were significantly less exciting than the last weeks of Hogwarts had been, and as time passed, it only served to emphasize that.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley had taken to hiding up in the attic, only venturing out in the dead of night or vanishing for days at a time on vacations. Vernon had been sent to a summer nursing home, meant to help him recover through a change of scenery. Every week they sent pictures of him, usually consisting of him staring listlessly at the sea. Each and every letter said that they were perfectly fine and there was no reason for Harry to come looking for them. Harry was a little confused why they thought he would look for them. He was far too busy doing his summer homework, enjoying the holiday, and catching up with Annabel.

Speaking of Annabel, she was the source of his current stress. Annabel had been oddly insistent to spend time with him throughout the summer, but he had wanted to see some of his other friends as well. Annabel resisted, especially once she found out who they would be meeting, but eventually relented.

Getting Hermione and Annabel to spend time with each other was like trying to pair up cats and dogs. Annabel seemed jealous that Hermione monopolized his time at Hogwarts, while Hermione was hesitant to interact with the over aggressive blonde. Harry was forced to take the role of the mediator between them, a role with he shouldered with some measure of dread.

"Oh, I didn't know you were coming with us." Annabel said.

"Well, it makes sense for us to go together. We both need books for second year." Hermione responded. "Besides, Harry wants us to get to know each other, since we're both friends of his."

"I should probably introduce you to Homer then..." Annabel said, a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Who's Homer?" Hermione asked, a bit nervously.

**_"ME."_**

As Homer revealed himself to them, Annabel grinned as Hermione was paralyzed by horror, as she often was when confronted with Rex in his true form. Homer stood over the trio of children, brilliant yellow eyes glowing from the dark depths of his catcher's mask face.

"Annie." Harry said pointedly, earning a sigh from the young blonde.

"Fine... Homer, don't hurt Hermione, or traumatize her, at least not too badly." Annabel said, getting a disappointed groan from her friend.

"Alright, let's all just try to get along." Harry said, "We're going on a nice trip to London to visit the magical world, and we shouldn't ruin it by fighting, right?"

**_"WE'RE GOING TO THE MAGIC WORLD?!"_** Rex asked excitedly, **_"AWESOME!"_**

**_"YEAH. I HAVEN'T GOTTEN A CHANCE TO SEE THIS 'MAGIC' YOU GUYS HAVE ALL BE TALKING ABOUT."_** Homer agreed, his yellow eyes shining with excitement.

"You guys stay here." Annabel commanded. The monsters fell silent in shock, and then quickly proceeded to beg, like horrifying, over sized puppies.

**_"AW... DO WE HAVE TO STAY BEHIND?"_** Homer whined.

**_"WE'LL BE GOOD! WE PROMISE!"_** Rex chimed in.

"No means no, or do I have to go and get my bat?" Annabel asked them, pulling her baseball cap low on her head, causing both monstrosities to flinch.

**_"FINE..."_** Rex sighed in defeat.

**_"I BET WHATEVER YOU'RE GOING TO DO IS STUPID ANYWAYS."_** Homer said petulantly, both monster shrinking down to their benign forms, before slinking off to sulk.

"Whatever." Annabel answered, before turning to her human companions, "I don't have to worry about you turning me into a newt or anything like that, do I?"

"Human transfiguration isn't until sixth year at school!" Hermione said.

"Besides, we're not supposed to use magic outside of school." Harry said.

"Really." Annabel said, with a wicked gleam in her eyes. Hermione gulped at the predatory smirk on her face, and subconsciously moved so Harry was between her and the blonde.

The moment was broken by an abrupt honking noise. Annabel sighed, before turning to her happily waving mother. She walked over to the car, and turned around.

"Well, are we going or not?" Annabel asked, angrily.

"That would be faster than waiting for a bus, and we do have to hurry." Hermione said, catching Harry's interest.

"What do you mean Hermione?" he asked.

"You mentioned that you missed your housemates, so I owled Susan, and she managed to get Justin, Ernie, and Hannah together to meet us at the Leaky Cauldron today,"

"Really?" Harry exclaimed, as they walked to the car. He hadn't expected to have a simple meet up turn into such a sizable gathering.

"Yes. They're arriving at about ten, so we should hurry."

**_HPaCT_**

"Are we just going to stand around here all day?" Annabel asked, tapping her fingers with impatience. While she had visited the Leaky Cauldron before, it paled in comparison to what lay beyond, and she was eager to get moving.

"We're waiting for Ernie, Justin, Susan, and Hannah." Harry explained, "They said they'd meet us here about one o'clock, so they still have a few minutes."

"Are they going to just fly in on brooms?"Annabel asked.

"They said something about Flooing in, whatever that it." Harry said.

"It's a magical form of transportation using fireplaces as conduits for travel." Hermione said, "Afterwords, we can move on to Diagon Ally and pick up our supplies for next year."

"You mean we get to visit those wizard stores of yours again? Finally!" Annabel exclaimed.

Further conversation was halted as the fire flashed green, and four children came out, one after another.

Harry grinned to see his housemates. He waved them over and began to talk, exchanging pleasantries and catching up with what they had been doing over the summer.

"Don't know why you're so excited. You see them eight months out of the year." Annabel huffed.

"Well, I haven't seen any of them since Hogwarts ended for the year." Harry sighed, only to be interrupted by one of the newly arrived companions.

"Harry, you can't talk about you-know-what in front of the you-know-who!" Ernie hissed at him, causing the young wizard to sigh.

"Wizards aren't exactly subtle, Ernie." Harry said, "Owls are constantly flying around my house from all the mail you guys have been sending me, all of my school books have titles like 'Seven ways to skin a newt,' and you're wearing robes, right now. Besides, she just saw you step out of a fire. I think she can figure it out."

Ernie turned a brilliant crimson, "Robes are coming into style! Just you wait and see!"

"I suppose we should add clothes to the shopping list s well..." Annabel sighed.

"I'm really sorry about this. Wizard and Witches don't really keep up with modern tends... like pants..." Hermione apologized.

"Some of us keep up with the times." Justin said, adjusting his oversized, red tinted sunglasses.

"Justin, you're kidding, right?" Harry said.

"You do know that Disco is dead, right?" Hermione added.

"Disco is forever!" Justin protested, "My dad's wears his polyester jacket and bell bottoms all the time!"

Harry stared at him blankly, while Annabel sighed in annoyance, and Hermione took him aside, talking lowly to him.

"Well, I'm not going to be walking around with you dressed like that," Annabel addressed the majority of magic users, dragging them out to the streets of London, "As much as I hate shopping for clothes, I think this is something we need to do, right now."

"Agreed." Hermione voiced, "People are starting to stare at them. Even for wizards, Justin looks a bit odd."

Susan and Hannah's eyes lit up at the word shopping, and Harry felt an instinctual dread well up inside him. The kind of feeling one might have before a hurricane or tornado descends on them. Fear, despair, and resignation raged within his heart as they headed towards London's nearest shopping mall. He glanced at his male companions, and could see the same look in their eyes as well.

The next hour passed in agony as the two female Hufflepuffs fell upon their first major clothing store like ravenous wolves. They quickly tore through rack after rack, pulling dresses, blouses, shirt and pants seemingly at random.

"Are you sure we can afford this?" Harry asked Annabel as they watched the rest of the girls tear through yet another aisle, heaping more clothes on the beleaguered boys behind them.

"Not a problem. I swiped one of my mom's credit cards before we left."

"Won't that cause problems?"

"I doubt it." Annabel answered easily, "It's not like she pays attention anyways, and dad's too busy working to notice."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but was drafted as a pack beast for the recently reveal shopaholics. They continued their inexhaustible efforts to try on every scrap of clothing in the store, while Hermione and Annabel watched from a safe distance.

"I'm surprised you're not in there with them." Annabel commented.

"Well, I've never been the girly type." Hermione admitted.

"I didn't take you for a tomboy."

"I'm not. I spent most of my time in the library. The last time I tried any sport I was walloped in the face by the ball. I got a bloody nose and spent the next hour in the nurse's office crying." Hermione admitted with some shame.

"That's rough," Annabel winced in sympathy, "It happens more often than I'd like to me. Sports can be tough, especially when you can run circles around the boys."

"I can imagine." Hermione smiled, and was pleased to see the hint of one on Annabel's face. The two girls managed to make small talk until the rest of their group had finished their shopping.

"Finally!" Annabel sighed in relief as they moved to ring up the considerable sum of clothing. "Can you hold these for us? My mom won't pick us up for awhile, and we have so much else to do."

"Well..." the clerk hesitated, before Annabel peered up at him with her big, blue eyes. "...Alright. Just make sure you come and pick them up before we close."

"Alright!" Annabel smiled at him, before promptly turning around and leaving the store, joining the exhausted boys outside. "I'm glad that's over with."

"I don't see what you're so upset about, you didn't have to carry everything!" the boys complained from beneath the massive pile of shirts, pants, dresses and other assorted clothes.

"They're worse than my mum." Hermione said, "And we can leave her shopping, come back after catching a movie, and she won't even notice."

"A movie? What's that?" Susan asked innocently, but was interrupted before she could get an answer.

"I don't see why we don't just go to Diagon Alley." Ernie said, fiddling with the collar of his new shirt, "The Muggle world is just so boring, and they managed to make getting new clothes into a three hour torture session!".

"We're not going to Diagon Alley because Annabel isn't a witch." Harry answered. "Besides, there are loads of things to do in regular London, you're just too much of a snob to know about them!"

"A snob!" Ernie exclaimed, earning a wave of snickers from members of the group.

"You've never even been to the movies, have you?" Annabel asked.

"Well, why would I?" Ernie replied, trying to conceal his ignorance.

"Honestly, you magic types can be so backwards." Annabel sighed.

"A movie is essentially a story, told through moving pictures and sound." Hermione explained. For a moment, it seemed as if she would go on to the history of movies, but she restrained herself.

"Moving pictures? Like " Ernie said, "We have things like that in the magical world, and I don't see what's so exciting about it. They just move around a bit and that's all."

"Ernie, I think it's time we expand your horizons a bit." Annabel said, draping her arm around his shoulder, causing the boy to break out in a cold sweat.

"So what movies are playing in theaters now?" Harry asked Annabel, who grinned.

"Hey Ernie, have you ever heard of... Batman?" Annabel asked innocently.

**_HPaCT_**

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ernie exclaimed as they walked out of the theater.

"Did you see the Batmobile?!" Susan nearly shrieked.

"Catwoman's outfit was scandalous!" Hannah said, her face turning red as she thought about it.

The young children continued to chatter about the movie excitedly, cuaght up in the wonder of the silver screen

"I've been waiting to see that for weeks." Annabel said, "But there was one other movie i wanted to see while we were here."

"What were you thinking Annie?" Harry asked.

"Zombies from the Ice Planet Mulgorn Four."

"I don't know about that, we rented Zombie from the Ice Planet Mulgorn Three last week, and I think it might not be the best movies for them to see."

"Come on Harry! These movie things a bloody brilliant!" Ernie said, clearly eager to see another.

"It's just that-" harry tried to explain, only to be cut off by the over excited Hufflepuff.

"COME ON HARRY!"

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." Harry warned one last time, before following after the rest.

**_HPaCT_**

Ernie stumbled out of the theater, his face completely drained of blood, his hands shaking, and he had some difficulty breathing properly.

"That- That was- ice zombies- " he mumbled, unable to form a proper sentence..

"It wasn't as good as I was expecting." Annabel sighed. "It wasn't as good as the last one, and nowhere near as good as the first."

"Did you really need to show it to them?" Hermione asked. Her hands were trembling, but she was in much better shape than the first timers.

"I like my movies bloody." Annabel shrugged.

"I think you traumatized him." Harry returned, watching as his pureblooded housemate grabbed the wall for support, before slowly sliding down to the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees as he did so.

"Well the rest of them were fine!"

"That's because they were smart enough to leave after the flaming chainsaw scene." Hermione pointed out, "I wish I had joined them..."

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry for taking you to see such a scary movie Ernie." Annabel said, pausing to see if Harry was appeased "And... to make it up to you, I'll see if I can find one of my dad's old Batman comics later.

"Batman... comics?" Ernie asked, somewhat emerging from his shocked stupor.

"Yeah, he's got loads of them. I don't think you can get any of the originals, but he generally has a few copies of the newer issues lying around."

Ernie face lit up with a massive grin at Annabel's promise of more Batman.

"Alright, now that he's recovered, we can finally go back to Diagon Alley!" Annabel; exclaimed, excitement at visiting the magical world again overwhelming her.

**_HPaCT_**

"Do we have to spend time here?" Annabel asked petulantly as they stood in front of Madame Malkin's Robe shop.

"Sorry Annie, but we need new robes for school. The ones from last year are a bit too small." Harry apologized.

"Speak for yourself. We got robes with room to grow." Justin said smugly, grinning alongside Ernie.

"I wish you told me that before we spent three hours shopping for clothes." Annabel groused at Harry..

"This will go a lot faster, since they all look the same." Harry reassured her. "There's not much variety beyond black and slightly dark black."

Annabel sighed, but took a seat as harry and the rest of the girls were measured for new robes. She talked with Ernie and Justin for a few minutes, before one of the workers loomed over them, smiling at the oblivious blonde before speaking to her.

"Tell me, what's your size?"

"Why does it matter?" Annabel asked.

"Well it would make your fitting go a bit faster."

"What are you talking ab-" Annabel tried to say, before being yanked up and moved to one of the footstools.

"Right this way dearie."

"But I'm not a-"

"Come on sweetie. You're holding up the rest of your friends." the witch said without any regard for Annabel's protests, Every attempt to get out of it was summarily ignored, and Harry smirked as Annabel was forced to do the thing she hated most, after successfully evading that fate earlier that very day.

Try on new clothes.

**_HPaCT_**

"I wish I brought Homer with me." Annabel complained, after finally escaping from the witch's grasp. "That would have showed her."

"Sorry Annie."

"And what's worse, while I was in her claws, the rest of you went ahead and visited all the interesting places!"

"We already have robes!" Ernie protested.

"Besides, we already had to get new clothes, thanks to you!" Justin chipped in, returning Annabel's glare.

"If you didn't fight her so much, it would have been over much quicker." Susan added, causing Annabel to growl in frustration.

"It's getting late. We should probably call it a day." Harry said, eying the setting sun.

"No way." Annabel said, "The main reason I went along with this whole thing was so I could see some of the magical things you've had all year. Is that too much to ask?"

"But we already got everything we need..."

"You haven't gone down there, right?" Annabel asked, pointing towards a nearby street. It was significantly less populated than the areas they had already visited.

"We can't go there! That's Knockturn Alley!" Ernie exclaimed.

"Knockturn Alley?" Harry asked.

"It's where most of the items associated with the Dark Arts are sold." Ernie explained, "Most of them stick to the borderline stuff, things that are technically still legal, but a couple of them are supposed to have the really dark stuff in the back."

"Really..." Annabel said, with a gleam in her eyes, "So you're saying that all the really exciting things are in one convenient location, and that they don't really care who buys them?"

"Er..." Ernie stammered, realizing what he had said.

"Come on!"

"I really don't think-"

"Too late!" Annabel interrupted, dragging the hesitating pureblood down the shadowy alley. Hannah followed worriedly after, accompanied by Susan and Justin.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea..." Hermione voiced her objections, though she still followed behind them.

"I don't think she cares." Harry said, "Come on, it'll be an adventure."

"I think I've had enough adventure to last me a lifetime." Hermione replied.

"At least here there aren't any trolls on the loose." Harry offered.

"Well, I suppose we could always ask an adult for help in we get into trouble..." Hermione tried to reassure herself as they caught up with the leaders.

"And Annie always has her bat with her too." Harry said, peering into the passing shops.

"Theodore's Emporium of Madness... Now this is the kind of store wizards should be using!" Annabel exclaimed, already halfway into the door. The rest of them hesitated, eying the rusty splotches on the windows nervously, before the atmosphere of the twilit alley caused them to follow after her.

The inside of the store was dim and dusty. Numerous trinkets, ranging from simple rings to full suits of armor cluttered up the shop, and the walls were lined with bookshelves, bending under the weight of their tomes. In the center of the shop was a small desk, with two men sitting at it. One, an elderly man wrapped head to toe in a well worn cloak, was apparently asleep, with the other was engrossed in a book.

"May I help you?" The man reading a book spoke up, not even looking up from it.

"Ah yes, the skull of Wimbledon the Terrible, a necromancer from the eighth century. He terrorized the Goths for decades, constantly resurrecting himself until he was decapitated and his spirit bound to this very skull before you. Over the centuries his mind and power have slowly degraded, leaving him a gibbering wreck who can only manifest himself during the New Moon."

"The New moon, isn't that tonight?" Justin gulped, before Hermione hit his shoulder.

"Haven't you been doing your astronomy homework? The new moon was last week." She snapped, causing the frightened Hufflepuff to sigh in relief, only to yelp as Annabel tossed the skull to him.

"What about this one?" Annabel asked the shopkeeper, as she picked up an Ivory comb.

"The product of Reginald the Wise's investigations into lycanthropy. He was attempting to create new Were species, and while he was never able to produce a true lycanthrope, if one were to wear that during the full moon, they would transform into a Were-Rhinoceros."

Annabel continued to wander through the shop, picking up items at random, and asking bout them, before either tossing them to one of her companions, or replacing it back where she found it.

As Annabel explored the shop, harry was conducting some investigations of his own. he was less interested in the unique artifacts, choosing instead to look at

"Distilled Madness... Ashes of the Veil..."

"You know, if it's ingredients you're looking for, you might want to check the apothecary in Diagon Alley. They have a wider selection of more usual ingredients."

"What are all of these? I've never even heard of some of these ingredients." Harry asked.

"What year are you going into?"

"Second." Harry answered, earning a hoarse and raspy laugh from the cowled man.

"You wouldn't even see the simplest of these ingredients until your seventh year, and even then, you wouldn't do much with them besides follow those recipes."

"Well, what else is there to Potions?" Harry asked.

"The recipes are fine for the basics, but to really understand potions, you'll need a broader education than they offer at Hogwarts. I think I know just the thing." He muttered, before hobbling over to the bookshelves.

"Now, where were those..." he muttered to himself, as he pulled books from the shelves, searching for something. Harry was about to tell him he didn't need to go through all that effort, before he let out an exclamation of success, and hobbled back to Harry, holding a thick, ancient looking tome.

"He you go my boy. A basic guide to potion ingredients."

"This is basic?" Harry asked incredulously, looking at its impressive size..

"Mastering Potions is a lifelong endeavor, you're lucky to have something so succinct to peruse. Back in my day, you'd have to reference ten different books just to get the basic structure laid out!"

"Alright!" Harry said, "How much is it?"

"Ten galleons, six sickles." Harry handed over the money, before noticing that most of his friends were already gathered at the door, clutching their own purchases. He quickly moved to join them, and they exited the shop.

The children quickly hurried out of the dark passages of Knockturn Alley to the more inviting twilight of Diagon Alley, and the bright warmth of the Leaky Cauldron.

"So, what did we all get?" Harry asked, after they had returned to the safety of the Leaky Cauldron. He hadn't seen what the rest of his companions had gathered during their venture.

"You go and see them off. I'll call my mother and tell her we're ready." Annabel said, pulling a rather clunky hunk of plastic out of her bag, and began to press a series of buttons on it.

"Haven't any of you seen a phone before?" Annabel asked, as the phone began ringing. She shot a look at Hermione, pointedly asking her to enlighten the ignorant magical folk, as she stepped out

"It's a telephone. Probably one of the newer mobile versions." Hermione began to explain

"And she can just carry it around with her like that?" Hannah asked in shock, "It's like having a fireplace in your pocket!"

"It's not that impressive. Loads of people have one." Hermione said.

"Maybe muggles do, but we don't have anything like that in the magical world. Not that isn't ridiculously expensive anyways." Hannah replied, still staring where Annabel had exited the pub. "Do you think I could get one of them too?"

"Sure. We can schedule another meeting some time and we can visit one of those new mobile stores." Hermione assured her.

"Well, she wasn't a bad sort." Justin said, commenting on Annabel,"A little off maybe, but not bad."

"Terrifying is the word I'd use." Ernie said, "I can't believe she made me buy this skull..."

"It'll make for a good story when we get back to Hogwarts, though you should probably avoid talking about how much you cried."

"I didn't cry! It was just dusty in that shop is all!" Ernie protested.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about anything with mine." Hannah commented, admiring the small painting she had been pressured into purchasing.

"You know my Auntie would be willing to look it over, just in case." Susan spoke up, looking at the rapier she had received, "I know I will."

"Does that offer apply to me too?" Justin asked hopefully, as he tried to put away an ancient looking lantern.

"Of course, us Puffs need to stick together!" Susan replied, as Ernie and Justin slumped in relief, before hastily handing their objects to the surprised Susan.

"Well, what about your Hermione?"

"No thank you." Hermione said, "It looks like your hands are already full, and it's just an animated dragon statue. I thought I would show it to my parent"

"Alright then, suit yourself. Harry, be sure to thank Annabel for us!" Susan said, trying to balance the additional objects. "We had a wonderful time, and would love to do this again sometime."

"Yeah, those movies were amazing! Ernie won't faint next time, I promise!"

"I didn't faint!" the young Puff protested, before picking up a small handful of Floo Powder.

Harry waved goodbye as a flash of green flame enveloped his housemates, one by one, before joining Hermione and leaving the Leaky Cauldron behind. As they stepped out on to the streets of London, a loud honk filled the air. Annabel was waving impatiently from her mother's car

Aside form a brief stop at the clothing store to pick up the purchases, the drive out of London passed quickly and uneventfully. Harry sat between the two girls, and their conversation

"I just hope they haven't destroyed the neighborhood while we were gone." Annabel sighed as she looked out the window at the passing scenery.

"They wouldn't really do that, would they?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Oh look. Here's your house." Annabel said as they pulled p in front of it. "I guess we'll see you later then. Make sure you send those clothes to Susan and Hannah. Harry'll take care of Justin and Ernie."

Hermione glanced worriedly over at the blonde, before stepping out of the car and hurrying to her house. With a brief wave, she vanished inside, and the car began to move again, this time back to home.

"You realize she'll be up all night watching the news now, right?" Harry asked, only to receive a light chuckle from the grinning girl in reply.

With a sigh, Harry made a note to call Hermione once they got back.


	18. Chapter 16

_After nearly three months, a new chapter appears. Apologies for delays, but as is blatantly clear, I cannot keep a schedule for this. This is due to real life essentially sucking as I try to find a new job to replace the soul sucking one I currently have, organize a project, and try to write original stuff as well. I do have parts of the next few chapters written, but I'm not going to make any promises about them, since at this point, I doubt you would believe me._

_On another note, I really need to get a beta soon, as I'm reaching the point where I actually have to go back and refer to past chapters to make sure I don't contradict myself. Again, not much happening in this chapter, just establishing the new status quo at Hogwarts, and showing what everyone has been doing and is planning to do over the school year._

_Enjoy!_

**_Harry Potter and Childish Things: Chapter Sixteen_**

The rest of summer passed fairly uneventfully. While they didn't manage to arrange another gathering, Harry did spend plenty of time with Annabel, and talking to Hermione over the phone. On occasion, he would venture out into the neighborhood with the two of them, but whenever he did, the streets tended to be deserted.

It was a bit surprising to hear that his aunt had told everyone that he was attending St. Brutus' School for Incurable Criminal Boys, but considering how he seemed to drive his relatives out of the house, it wasn't surprising that everyone believed it. It was a bit amusing to think that an entire neighborhood was terrified of a twelve year old boy.

Still, it wasn't much of a problem, and summer soon ended, and Harry eagerly packed up his bags for another year of magic. Like last year, Annabel and her mother gave him a ride to the train platform, though they left all of the loading and lifting to Harry. As Harry hefted the heavy luggage out of the car, he made a note to charm them so they didn't weigh as much as soon as he was back at school.

After everything was settled, Harry began to walk towards the station, Annabel trailing behind him. He stopped, double checking that he had anything, before turning to speak to his friend.

"Well, it looks like this is it. I'm not going to see you until the winter holidays." Harry said.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Annabel responded. They stood there in awkward silence for several long seconds, before Harry spoke up.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye. Bye Annie." Harry said, and began walking off.

Annabel seized his arm, pulling him back towards her, and hugged him fiercely, "I'm going to miss you Harry."

Harry awkwardly returned the hug, not sure how to respond when Annabel got like this, "I'll try to write more this year."

"You'd better." Harry pretended not to hear the sniffle, instead grabbing his trunk, and waving goodbye.

Annabel stood there for a moment, before returning to her mother's car, stubbornly refusing to lose control, and let her tears fall.

As Annabel drove away, Harry stared at the wall between platforms nine and ten. He had done this once before, but running headlong into what appeared to be a solid brick wall didn't get any easier with practice.

Harry ran headlong at the portal, and was hit with a blazing red wall. It was only after he collapsed on the ground in a daze that he recognized it as pain.

"It's blocked?" Harry said, rubbing his head as he slowly struggled back to his feet.

**_"maybe we're early?"_** Rex asked.

"No, I saw some people go in just a few minutes ago," Harry said, puzzled, trying to ignore the odd looks of the various passengers heading towards their own trains.

**_"maybe we're late?"_**

"Not according to the clock. We still have twenty minutes or so." Harry said, staring at the wall in confusion. Perhaps they had moved it? Maybe they locked it down while the platformed cleared up a bit? He casually leaned against the wall, but it remained as solid as ever. He tried pushing, he tried kicking, he tried everything short of pulling his wand, with no results.

"We're running out of time!" Harry groaned to himself as he glanced at the clock, frantically trying to think of a solution.

**_"is anybody looking?" _**Rex asked.

"Why?" Harry asked.

**_"just answer the question."_**

"Well... no one is looking, I guess..."

**_"good. i'm going to smash the door down."_** Rex said.

"What? Wait!" Harry said in disbelief..

**_"is there something wrong?"_** Rex asked in confusion.

"You can't just smash down the portal!" Harry hissed, "It'll violate the Statute of Secrecy!"

**_"so?"_**

"So they'll probably arrest me!" Harry said, "There's got to be some kind of way to get in!"

**_"well, i'm listening..."_**

"Give me a minute!" Harry said, desperately trying to think of a solution before his friend did something regrettable. Not that Rex would care, but it would certainly make his life more difficult than it needed to be.

**_"tOO LATE."_** Rex said, Harry watched in growing horror as he resumed his monstrous incarnation, before lifting his claws and slashing the portal to pieces.

**_"I THInk that i overdid it."_** Rex said sheepishly, shrinking down to his more benign form. Harry watched, still dumbstruck, as the massive damage wrought on the structure of the train station began to take its toll. The pathway to the portal was clear, but the structural integrity of the entire section was compromised, and Harry could already several other parts of the station beginning to crumble. Shouts of surprise and fear began to fill the air, as people noticed what Rex had done.

"Never mind, just go! Go!" Harry said, picking up the miniature monster and rushing through the crumbling passage. Clouds of dust filled the air, and made it difficult to see or even breathe, but Harry was grateful for the cover, as it kept him concealed from whoever might be nearby.

"I hope the muggle repelling charms keep anyone from noticing it..." Harry coughed as he emerged on the other side, doing his best to blend into the crowd of shocked wizards and witches. "Though I think the collapse scared away almost everybody..."

**_"see? it all worked out in the end!"_** Rex exclaimed happily, earning an exasperated sigh from his friend, before Harry hurriedly stuffed him into his trunk.

Somehow, Harry managed to make his way onto the Hogwarts Express without any further incident. He quickly and quietly found an empty compartment, and sorted his things before settling down.

"How are you doing Rex?" Harry asked.

**_"i wish you would wash your socks before stuffing me in here. it smells."_** Rex said, scratching at his nose in an attempt to dispel the stench.

"Sorry about that. I wouldn't have had to stuff you in there if we didn't have to run from the mess you made." Harry said, letting his closest friend hop down to the ground, where he began to explore their small compartment.

"You can't wander around too much. People are coming to visit me." Harry warned his companion, though he knew it probably wouldn't help too much.

**_"don't worry. i'm just making sure nothing unusual is lurking in the shadows."_**

"Like what? I haven't seen anything I would call 'usual' in the magical world." Harry said with a grin.

**_"you know, something that doesn't belong. even in the magical world."_** Rex responded, **_"i can feel it in my bones. something different is here... somewhere..."_**

Harry gave his friend an odd look, but before he could ask what he meant, a number of his housemates entered the compartment.

"Harry! How have you been?" Hannah exclaimed as she bustled into the compartment, enveloping him in a hug.

"Well, it hasn't been that long. I saw you a couple of weeks ago." Harry answered, laughing.

"A couple of weeks is FOREVER!" Susan exclaimed.

"And you never answered any of our letters!" Hannah cried out, giving him a glare.

"What letters?" Harry asked, puzzled. Before his friends could reply, there was a great series of thunks in the corridor, followed by a knock on the door. After a brief pause the door opened, to reveal an overburdened girl, desperately trying to balance far more books than anyone should be carrying.

"Hermione!" Hannah exclaimed, wrapping the Gryffindor in a hug as she had done to Harry.

"How was the rest of your summer? Did Harry behave himself?" Susan asked.

"Hey!"

"Just joking Harry."

"It was lovely, and Harry conducted himself like a perfect gentleman." Hermione answered.

"Did you buy a library over the summer?" Ernie asked, looking at the three massive suitcases Hermione struggled to bring into the compartment.

"No, my parents cut my allowance when the learned how many books I bought." Hermione sighed.

"What do you need all of these for?" Justin asked in wonder as he paged through one of them, before Hermione snatched it back.

"Let's just say I'm going to be helping another Gryffindor learn a thing or two, and I thought these would help speed up the process." Hermione said, smiling brightly.

Harry couldn't repress a sudden shiver when he saw her face. Despite the happy tone in her voice, he knew that whoever she was talking about would certainly be in for a less than pleasant year.

The ride was spent chatting about the rest of their summer, before settling into a comfortable silence. Hermione began to review one of her many books, while the others contented themselves with snacks Harry had been kind enough to buy.

**_HPaCT_**

As they arrived at Hogwarts, the first years were quickly separated from the rest of the students, and after they departed for the boats, everyone else began to board the carriages.

**_"hey, check out those carts harry."_** Rex said. Harry looked over at the carriages, and was surprised at their unusual appearance. It was like someone had stripped off their skin, and then crafted the removed flesh into a pair of wings and grafted them onto the beast. As he watched, it flapped its wings and let out a strangled shriek that made his skin crawl.

"What are you looking at Harry?" Hannah asked curiously.

"Nothing really," Harry answered, "Just looking at the horses"

"Harry, there's nothing there." Susan said, giving her friend a worried glance.

"Really?" Harry said skeptically, "I think I know what I see, and there is definitely some sort of a horse pulling us."

"Did a brick hit you when the wall collapsed?" Justin asked worriedly, "Maybe you should see Madame Pomphrey when we get to the castle."

"I'm fine! Really!" Harry insisted, but judging by the faces of his friends, they didn't quite believe him. They continued to shoot him concerned looks, causing the young wizard to sigh, before slouching into the furthest corner of the carriage.

**_"don't worry harry, i believe you."_** Rex attempted to comfort his friend.

"That's wonderful." Harry groaned quietly. "Can you at least see them too?"

**_"of course!"_** Rex answered.

"Really?

**_"kind of like big, blurry blobs."_** Rex replied, causing Harry to sigh in disappointment.

"Well, I guess thanks for lying to me." Harry whispered to his friend, which seemed to irritate the dark creature.

**_"but i can see them harry!"_** Rex insisted.

"Rex, they don't look anything like blobs."

**_"well, they do to me. why don't you try looking at them with my eyes harry."_** Rex said from the safety of his pouch, petulance obvious in his voice..

Harry sighed, before closing his eyes and trying to focus on Rex, letting thoughts of his best friend dominate his mind. He reached out for Rex, letting his very essence reach out and touch his partner. As he did so, a little bit of Rex flowed back into Harry, and he opened his eyes.

As always happened when Harry tapped into Rex's power, color was stripped away from the world. However, this time, everything seemed to retain a faded facsimile of their original coloring, like they had been washed a hundred times. Harry was puzzled for a minute, before he remembered how close they were to Hogwarts. In all likelihood, the ambient magic was probably infusing the land, giving everything a faded shadow of its original coloring.

He shook his head, and turned towards the front of the carriage. He was a bit surprised to see that the creature had taken on a whole new appearance. Their outlines were no longer visible, existing as a sort of nebulous cloud of midnight blue energy. As they began to move, Harry could see that the color of the world around them faded ever so slightly, as if the very presence of the strange creatures somehow diminished their being, like they were trying to escape its notice.

He turned around and saw the faded colors revert to normal as they passed by. It was always strange to him how different the world looked through Rex's eyes, and it only got stranger here in the magical world.

"Come on! We don't want to miss the feast!" Ernie shouted, shaking Harry excitedly.

Harry blinked, his concentration shattered, and the world faded back to the way it had always been, and the creature with it. Harry rubbed his eyes, trying to ignore the rising headache, as he realized they had already arrived at Hogwarts. Thoughts of the delicious feast that was soon to come spurred him to shake off the pain in his head, and follow his housemates into the Great Hall.

They quickly took their seats at the Hufflepuff table, and Harry grinned as he watched the newest members of the student body nervously walk up to the Sorting Hat, enjoying the long silence as they waited for the pronouncement of what house they would live in for the next seven years. For something so trivial, it was amazing how much weight some of them gave to it. He was sure some of them would have broken down in tears if they hadn't gotten the house they expected. Soon enough, the sorting ceremony was completed, and Dumbledore stood up, to begin this year's announcements.

"This year, we have a couple of new additions to our staff." Dumbledore began, "First, Mr. Phineas Parr, a recent graduate of Hogwarts, has agreed to fill in as our Potions Professor for the year, or until we can find a more permanent replacement. He received an Outstanding on his Potions N.E.W.T, and has spent few years studying under some of the most renown brewers, so rest assured, he is just as competent as Professor Snape, before his tragic accident."

"Of course, Professor Parr is not our only new staff. As is rapidly becoming a Hogwarts tradition, it is my honor to introduce our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart." Dumbledore announced.

"Thank you! Thank you!" The newest member of the faculty said, among the halfhearted cheers of the males, and shrieks of adoration from many of the female students, "Rest assured that the skills of my many adventures will not be neglected here at Hogwarts! I will strive to ensure that each and every student will be as Magical as Me in regards to defense against the dark arts! It will not be an easy undertaking, but when have I ever attempted something that was supposed to be simple?"

His dialogue continued, enrapturing the female half of the student body, as well as some of the younger female professors, though for the most part, everyone else seemed unimpressed. The one exception was Dumbledore, who tolerated his declarations with a placid nod, before finally announcing the start of the welcoming feast. Lockhart deflated a bit, clearly looking forward to further oration of his prowess in battling the forces of darkness, but the sound of hungry children falling on their food like ravenous wolves filled the air, eliminating any hope that he could be heard. Awkwardly he sat down, and began picking at his food.

The feast passed quickly, as friends spoke in person for the first time in months, and stories about summer vacations were exchanged. Harry, contenting himself with sampling everything the table had to offer, only occasionally offering up a one word response as he filled his belly. There would be time enough to talk when they made their way back to the Common Room.

As they moved from the Great Hall towards the Hufflepuff dormitories, Harry grinned at the expressions of awe on the first years' faces. While Hogwarts was familiar to him now, their unbridled excitement was catching, and it reminded him that there was still so much to learn about this castle.

They entered into the dormitories, and the orderly procession quickly disintegrated, as students lounged in the Common Room, struck up a game of Exploding Snap, or simply heading towards their rooms. Only the prefects and first years held any semblance of order, as the older students instructed their newest house members on the rules and protocols they were expected to follow.

Harry, eager to get everything in order for the new school year, decided to head up to his new room, and get everything settled. Harry looked around the second year dormitories, and admitted they were somewhat nicer than the first years'. He quickly set about putting his belongings in their proper place, trying to get it done as quickly as possible. Down below, he could hear a few of the more raucous Hufflepuffs celebrating their return to Hogwarts, but the majority of them were settling in. Once everything was in its proper place, Harry lay down on his bed, putting his glasses to the side.

**_HPaCT_**

After the feast, the first few days of classes passed without major incident. Most of them were simple review over the material of the last year.

Harry managed to get through transfiguration without setting anything ablaze, though one or two of the attempts did let off a bit of smoke. McGonagall eyed him critically, but didn't say anything. Harry attempted to keep a low profile for the rest of class, lest she feel the need to reinstate their weekly meetings.

History offered a brief rest and reprieve from real classes, as some of the students who hadn't been able to wait for the weekend filled the room with the sounds of their snores, nicely complimenting the droning voice of Professor Binns.

Charms, as always, proved to be as entertaining as it was difficult. Flitwick seemed to thrive on chaos, and as a result, the room was filled with errant spells and hastily cast hexes. While he kept a strict eye out for anything that would be considered below the belt, there were still plenty of minor accidents and injuries.

Potions proved uneventful, as Professor Parr simply put up the instructions on the board, before pacing down the aisles between the tables, occasionally offering some advice or correcting a mistake one of them had committed.

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. On one hand, he was enthusiastic, and clearly understood the theory behind defense, but on the other hand, in regards to the practical aspect of the class, he clearly had no idea what he was supposed to do, and when he did, his spells tended to fail, either fizzling out before anything happened, or waiting until the most dramatic moment before catastrophic failure.

It wasn't until he decided to release some cornish pixies that things really began to truly spiral out of control. Lockhart's halfhearted attempt met with the failure that had characterized his class thus far. Immediately after, he left them to solve the problem on their own, with a few shouted words of encouragement.

"He's not very good at this, is he?" Ernie said, as he attempted to freeze one of the pixies, only to miss and be swarmed by several irate sprites.

"Don't say that!" Hannah warned her housemate, conjuring a brief blast of air to knock the fairies off of him.

"Maybe he saves it all up for his adventures, so he doesn't have anything left when he's teaching." Susan suggested, earning a baleful look from a number of male students.

"You'd think after all his adventures, he'd be smart enough to save some when he really needs it." Ernie sneered, "Honestly, I can't believe my mom reads all of his books."

"At least she doesn't have a shrine to him in her closest." Justin sighed. "I wish I never got her copies of his books."

Harry nodded in agreement with his fellow Hufflepuffs. Hogwarts could certainly do a lot better than Lockhart in regards to professors. He was definitely the bottom of the barrel when it came to being competent.

On the other hand, he probably wasn't going to try and kill him like Quirrel did last year.

Probably. You didn't need to be smart or competent to be a problem, after all.

**_HPaCT_**

The first week ended quickly, and it was then that the real fun began. Being the house of hard workers, most of the Hufflepuffs refrained from celebrating their return excessively. However, with the weekend at hand, and two entire days to rest and recover, holding back was no longer a concern.

One of the older students had smuggled in some butterbeer, and the sounds of chatter and music soon made sleep impossible, effectively forcing the more reserved members of the house to join them. As more and more students wandered back to the common room, the party grew larger and more extravagant. Some of the older students would make runs to the kitchen to restock their flagging supply, and a surprising amount of contraband items were passed around the room.

Harry had no desire to be sucked into the rapidly growing crowd, instead contenting himself to watch with avid interest. He wasn't alone in observing the party, a number of other students joined him and struck up a conversation, always keeping an eye on what was happening in the event something spectacular occurred.

They weren't disappointed, as several of the bolder, or perhaps more inebriated, students decided to engage in a mock duel. Soon the air was filled with spells that would make you speak backwards or turn your skin purple. Safely away from the center of chaos, Harry watched with delight as things rapidly began to spiral out of control. Numerous other students began to joy in the fray, and it soon seemed that an outright riot was about to break out.

Fortunately, before things got irreversibly out of hand and began to do serious damage to the common room, things began to calm down once more, after a seventh year let out a magically enhanced shout, and gave the instigators a stern lecture. The party resumed, though not as boisterous as it had been before. Harry was glad he had let Rex out earlier in the evening. Having him around here during the duel was bound to have ended badly. It looked like this year was going to be even better than the last!

**_HPaCT_**

Across the castle, another party was under way, and had been for quite some time. Unwilling to wait for the first week of classes to end, several Gryffindors had started to celebrate after the welcoming feast, and had continued in one form or another for the entire week. The primary proponents of this were Fred and George Weasley, who took the time to make sure there was always something interesting happening for the first week, especially during class.

While tonight was meant to be the climax of an entire week of partying, far too many students had worn themselves out, and only participated halfheartedly, at best. While not happy about their failure, Fred and George accepted it with some measure of grace, and kept their entertainment to a minimum.

After all, why waste their supplies now? They had a whole year to make up for one small stumbling block.

Up in the boys' dormitory, Ron sat in his room. While most of his fellow Gryffindors were celebrating in their usual fashion, he was plotting. He had spent the summer enduring the attentions of his older brothers, all for the sake of showing the bushy haired brat how good he was. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but he had devised a number of potential pranks and plans over the summer. He wasn't going to create a master plan, with intricacies and minute details, culminating in her complete humiliation. As much fun as that would be, the most important thing he learned over the summer was to know his own limits. He wasn't ready for that much planning, and even if he was, he wasn't capable of adapting to whatever she might throw at him. It was better to just take opportunities as they came to him, and be ready to deal with whatever she threw back at him.

Down in the common room, as she engaged in conversation with Neville, Hermione's mind was following a similar path. Deprived of a mentor, she instead relied on the vast collection of books she had gathered over the holidays. While none of them went into detail on the best way to prank someone or get revenge, they did have countless spells that would help her accomplish one or the other. When she was confident in her spell work, she turned to the great strategists for inspiration, jotting down her thoughts and plans for her inevitable victory against her red haired foe.

The two of them were completely unaware of what the other was doing, but in the back of their minds, they knew that both of them shared a similar train of thought, occupied with destroying their rival.

It was going to be an interesting year.

**_HPaCT_**

Rex wandered the empty halls of Hogwarts. Harry had joined his housemates in a start of the year celebration, leaving Rex to his own devices. He had no desire to sit on the sidelines while Harry had a good time. Rex didn't understand why Harry didn't want him joining the party. He could rock out better than anyone else, and had a built in pyrotechnics display as well! Sure, there would be plenty of burn injuries and maybe a couple of maimings over the course of the party, but you couldn't make an omelet without destroying a castle or something.

Still, wandering though the empty halls on his own was enjoyable in its own way. It wasn't often he could walk around in his full malevolent form without extensive property damage. The only disappointment was there wasn't anyone to play with. Harry had made him promise not to break into any rooms to terrorize whoever happened to be inside, and it seems the ghosts had an instinctive urge to flee whenever he was around. Still, at least it was better than sitting around in Harry's room by himself.

Rex stopped for a moment, and sniffed the air, scenting something upon it. It was unfamiliar, but something deeper than the smell called out to him. Something he recognized, deep inside his bones.

Power, and promises of something dark.

Rex grinned, flames dripping from his jaws. It looked like this year was going to be fun.


	19. Chapter 17

Well, here we are again. I was going to take a bit more time to review and edit this, but this month is going to be busy, since I'm both running and participating in a Original Fiction Competition. Depending on how it goes, and I am hopeful, we can publish it on Amazon for all of you guys to check out, and if we're really, really lucky, we might even be able to make physical copies of it to sell. Obviously, this is a BIG DEAL, so I'll be devoting most of my time this month towards that. I will try to squeeze in a bit of writing for Childish Things, but I'm not dumb enough to make any promises. Again, apologies for spelling errors, typos, and other general mistakes. Like I said, I wanted to get this out now because I doubt I'll have a chance for the rest of the month.

**_SPOILERS!_**

So, rather than waiting until the grande finale, like most authors would, I decided to blow it up now. Since the Wizarding World is mostly still at peace here, and Voldemort has yet to resurrect himself and step into the limelight, this isn't the end of the school. Rather, it's a major deviation that I will probably have quite a lot of fun with, in more ways than one. I may or ma not blow it up a few more times, either because what I develop isn't working, or simply because blowing up Hogwarts is surprisingly fun.

**_END SPOILERS_**

Alright, you guys enjoy the chapter! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

**_Harry Potter and Childish Things: Chapter 17_**

After the initial excitement of returning to Hogwarts, the year continued rather sedately.

As a second year, Harry tried out for the Quidditch team. While a number of Hufflepuffs were impressed with his natural talent, he only managed to make the second string. He was a bit disappointed, but the first string seeker, Cedric Diggory, took him under his wing. After a few weeks, it was clear that he was grooming Harry to be his successor. While he did take some pride in that, Harry couldn't help wanting to surpass him, and become the main Seeker for his house. He didn't expect it to happen over night, but he had a few years. In the mean time, he was having fun.

Classes proved to be fairly easy to deal with. While many of the new spells were difficult, the older students always seemed ready to lend a hand, and Harry and his friends often found themselves providing assistance to the newly inducted first years.

Even Lockhart's classes weren't too bad, all things considered. He stuck mainly with dramatic retellings and reenactments of his adventures after the pixie incident. It was fairly boring, but managed to edge out Binns in entertainment quality. While the girls were all flattered to be involved in his stories, the boys quickly began to see how much they could derail his epics, much to Lockhart's frustration. All things considered, things seemed to be well in hand.

At least, they were until late October. As the air began to chill, and the days grew darker, malevolent forces began to stir.

One of those, of course, was Rex.

**_HPaCT_**

Rex wandered through the halls of Hogwarts, as he often did during these late nights. For once, Harry wasn't with him, as he had an important essay he was busy writing. Rex didn't mind the solitude, as long as it didn't happen too often. He continued his aimless wandering, not having anything in particular he wanted to do, until he sensed something.

He had felt it before, when he had first returned to Hogwarts, but it was much stronger now, fresher. Whatever it was was stalking the halls of Hogwarts, and he was going to find it. Rex's tail lashed in anticipation as he climbed up a set of stairs. They began to change their destination, but a dark glare from his blood red eye caused them to pause, before quickly returning to their original position.

It didn't take much longer for him to track the source of the sensation. Whatever it was, it was behind the door before him, Rex licked his lips in anticipation, before tearing down the last barrier between them.

**_"WELL HI THERE."_** Rex growled as he looked at the unusual creature before him

It had horns. That was the first thing he noticed about it. More horns than anything had any right to possess. Amid the countless pairs of horns, he saw antlers, tusks, and a plethora of other pointy instruments of death. Nestled deep within them, a pair of emerald green eyes looked out at Rex curiously.

Beyond the horns and other assorted death dealers, there was a powerful body, covered in thick fur that dragged on the floor, concealing most of the remainder of it's body. The only other detail Rex could readily recognize were six powerful legs, designed to drive it's countless horns into whatever happened to get in its way.

**_"HELLO."_** The creature replied, studying Rex with the same intensity. Rex casually flexed his massive claws as he pondered what his next action would be.

**_"WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"_** Rex asked, tongues of flame dripping from his jaws in a macabre facsimile of a smile.

_**"CALL ME... SNORKACK."**_ The creature replied, shuffling it's legs and lowering its head.

Monsters, in their natural state, without any children to temper them or offer guidance, were not particularly bright or sophisticated. When two independent monsters met, the pecking order was generally established through physical contests, displays of prowess, or outright combat.

In short, might makes right.

No signal was given. There wasn't any need for it. Instinct took over as Rex howled his blood lust, before falling on the Monster that dared to intrude in his territory. the beast before him responded in kind, its sinewy legs propelling it forward in a devastating charge.

Rather than meeting it head on, Rex stepped to the side, before seizing the most prominent set of horns, and using them to throw it into the nearest wall. While Hogwarts had been designed for a great many things, withstanding an assault of such monstrous proportions was not one of them, and the wall crumbled. Rex didn't waste any time savoring his early advantage, instead charging after it, releasing a blast of flame.

The Snorkack howled in rage, again charging at Rex. Rex attempted to wrestle it once again, but the beast was moving far faster than it had before, and Rex was unable to stop him.

Rex roared in agony as he was impaled in dozens of places by the countless horns, but the Snorkack didn't stop there. Instead, the massive six legged beast continued to charge, using Rex as a battering ram to knock down the wall behind him.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

It's charge only stopped when Rex unleashed a massive blast of flames, setting its heavy fur ablaze. The Snorkack let out an unearthly shriek, before flailing its head and hurling Rex away from it as it tried to extinguish the fires consuming it. Rex lay sprawled on the ground, trying to recover for a moment, taking dark pleasure watching his opponent suffer.

The Snorkack's wild actions tore down several nearby walls, raining debris down on them. As Rex regained his footing, he saw that the falling stones, dirt, and dust had snuffed out most of the fires, and the Snorkack seemed ready to clash again. With a feral roar of his own, Rex charged at the beast, and the battle was joined.

**_HPaCT_**

Students screamed as their clash moved to the more inhabited portions of the castle. While normally, the mere sight of a monster would paralyze them and seal their gruesome fate, the rampant destruction of the castle provided a much more urgent target of their attention. Students scrambled to avoid falling debris while professors attempted to curb the worst of the danger while simultaneously trying to evacuate the panicking children. The monsters were noted but only in passing as the source of the danger, as they desperately tried to escape the collapsing castle. While a few of the braver or more foolish witches and wizards spared a moment to hurl a spell into the fray, they went unnoticed by the battling abominations, the flickers of pain only fueling them towards even greater acts of destruction.

Terror gripped everyone, teacher and student alike. Even as the monsters continued their rampage, vanishing into another part of the castle, their minds began to break under their aberrant influence. Memories began to scab over, replacing what they saw with a reality their minds could handle better.

Regardless, one urge dominated the minds of everyone. They needed to flee, they needed to escape. Blind panic drove the majority of people to stampede through the halls, desperately seek

Heedless of the carnage they had wrought, the two monsters continued to destroy the castle.

As the students and staff evacuated, Rex and the Snorkack continued to clash, tearing through the ancient walls of Hogwarts as if they were tissue paper. The wards that had sustained the school for nearly one thousand years crumbled before the dark majesty of the Monsters, unable to resist the nightmarish influence their full might brought to bear.

**_HPaCT_**

Up in his office, Albus was rapidly gathering up everything he could feasibly need. He didn't know what was happening, but the wards surrounding the castle were failing, something that had never happened before. Even in the most dire of straits, the wards had held. Battered, weakened, and all but destroyed, but they had endured.

Now... something was destroying wards laid down by four of the greatest mages Britain had ever known.

He watched as the energies of the wards failed, one by one, desperately trying to determine what was causing it. After nearly a minute of watching, he realized he could wait no longer. Any further information gathered would come at the expense of the lives of those who dwelt in the castle, and that was something he could not permit. He knew he couldn't stand against whatever forces were attacking Hogwarts, even at his peak, he could never hope to match the founders these forces so clearly exceeded, but perhaps he could minimize the damage.

**_HPaCT_**

The creatures continued to clash, jaws met horns, flames were tossed aside like a light breeze. Blows that would have shattered diamond were exchanged at breakneck pace, and still, through it all, they did no true damage to one another. Even in the throes of battle, Rex knew Harry wouldn't be happy with what was happening, and tried to hold back, even if it was just a bit. The Snorkack, sensing this held back as well, wary of a surprise attack.

Of course, that wouldn't last long

With each exchange, the collateral damage increased, as Rex became less concerned with structural integrity, and more concerned with ripping the Snorkack's face off and eating it. The Snorkack responded in kind, choosing to continue charges through intervening walls, instead of slowing down and presenting an opening. As the attacks grew more violent, the course of battle become less predictable, as unexpected pathways opened up as wall were melted or demolished. Passages that were never meant to exist were created, as the monstrous battle continued.

Eventually, their titanic clash took them to a subterranean cavern beneath the castle. It had clearly been some sort of library or office of great import, but the details were lost on the rampaging beasts. They ransacked the chamber, annihilating books, device, and artifacts that had been preserved for hundreds of years without a second thought.

They fought their way into a massive chamber, with a colossal statue at the far end. The wall were decorated with a myriad of murals, detailing numerous magical feats and accomplishments. They didn't care about that. Battle was their only concern at the moment

Rex let out a concentrated gout of flame, melting the mural behind his foe. The Snorkack roared as the attack washed by him, before he attempted to impale the lizard like monster. Though the open space allowed Rex to narrowly avoid it. Rex responded by inhaling deeply, before blasting an intense pillar of flame. Seconds stretched on and on, without any sign of relenting. Rex's eye gleamed with sadistic glee. The trespasser was nothing but ash and molten flesh now.

That made the Snorkack's attack all the more surprising and devastating. So focused on his blinding fire, Rex didn't spot the charging beast until it was too late. With and agonized roar, Rex was thrown across the empty chamber, spraying fire everywhere. The Chamber began to shift as stone liquefied under the intense heat, but the monsters took no notice.

They plunged deeper into the depths of the castle, uncaring of the ever increasing strangeness of their environment. The architecture began to fade, replaced with more organic constructs, before even those gave way to things that defied conception. The monsters cared not for the oddities accruing around them, only for the foe before them. Chaos surged where they passed, disrupting the very foundations, both physical and magical, of Hogwarts.

They didn't care. The battle continued.

**_HPaCT_**

Dumbledore struggled to do what he could, but even his years of experience couldn't keep up with the destruction being wrought on Hogwarts. There simply wasn't enough time to re-establish the wards or repair the damage. In the time it took to create halfway passable repairs, a dozen more things were crushed, cut apart, or otherwise obliterated. It was a futile struggle, but he continued nonetheless. If he was very, very fortunate, whatever was destroying the castle would move on before it was too late, but such hopes were rapidly fading.

**_HPaCT_**

The path of destruction turned upwards again, as Rex was bodily tossed through the floor of one of the many dungeons. He roared in pain, but quickly began moving again as the Snorkack struggled to ascend through the gaping hole it had just created. Rex retreated from the confined space, sparing a moment to flood the room with fire, before ascending the stairway outside, casually damaging the walls in his haste. The Snorkack followed behind him, burning hair falling away as it did.

The battle took on an upward momentum. Confined to the stairway, there was little choice in the matter. By the time they had escaped its narrow confines, the direction of the battle had become habit, and once they found their way down the deserted corridor, they quickly found themselves in another stairway.

Their battle had taken them into one of Hogwarts numerous towers, each creature seeking to use the twisting stairway to its advantage, trying to get behind and obliterate their foe. Unfortunately, their sheer size made such agile maneuvers nearly impossible, and the majority of the battle was simply the Snorkack forcing Rex to ascend the staircase, until they reached its peak.

Atop the tower, there was more space for them to battle, though the open nature of the area came with the risk of falling several hundred feet to the ground below. While the top of the tower was a more open area, it did not have enough space for the Snorkack to build up sufficient speed for a charge, forcing him to resort to simply thrashing at Rex with his horns. A sadistic grin crossed Rex's face, as his slashing claws cut the Snorkack again and again.

The Snorkack fell back, trying to escape the onslaught, but all too soon, there was nowhere left to walk. As its rear feet knocked a few loose stones from the tower, its attempts to attack Rex slowed down, and finally stopped, all of its attention focused on staying on the tower. Rex continued his attacks, brutally beating the incapacitated beast, until it couldn't do anything to stop him.

With a triumphant howl, Rex bodily lifted the Snorkack over his head, before hurling the beast off the top of the tower. He watched at the Snorkack fell, before letting out a roar, and jumping after him. They clashed again in the air, claws slash, and horns ripping, until they landed on a roof, and brought it crashing down.

They fell into the thankfully deserted Great Hall, ravaging the massive tables as their combat continued. The Snorkack bellowed in rage as Rex refused to give it enough leeway to charge him, while Rex howled as the countless horns atop his foe prevented him from eviscerating the beast. Tables were crushed underfoot, as the struggle for dominance continued.

The Snorkack charged at Rex, and while it didn't managed to impaled the dinosaur like monster, it did tangle him in its horns. It let out a beastly bellow as Rex attempted to claw it, before shaking its head and hurling Rex across the devastated hall.

Rex snarled, he had had enough. This thing had the nerve to come into his territory and try to start something. Well, he was going to show him who was in charge! Rex inhaled deeply, letting the fire raging inside of him build up. The tongues of flame dripping form his mouth turned from red, to white, to blue, to black. Soon, the raw fury and hate filling Rex infused the flames, twisting them into something the mortal world wasn't mean to see. As bits of flame fell to the floor, it began to warp and twist, as if the world had forgotten how it was supposed to function, and was trying a hundred different things to see if they would work.

He released the blast, and the Snorkack met it head on, its mighty horns enshrouded in its own warped malevolence, just as Rex's fire was. The aberrant sphere of flame exploded, annihilating the Great Hall, and hurling two two monsters away from each other. Rex lost sight of the Snorkack, as he spiraled through the air, but never for a moment did he relax in the slightest.

He landed heavily on the ground, rolling over and over, trying to regain his balance. Rex scrambled to his feet, but the Snorkack was nowhere in sight. As his blood lust began to drain away, he saw that there were a number of people around. While he didn't particularly care if they saw him, he knew Harry was a bit uptight about that sort of thing, and quickly shrunk down and began searching for his partner.

It was fortunate that they were distracted. Rex puffed up in pride, glad that his actions had kept him safely out of sight and mind. Without sparing another thought to his new foe, he set out to find Harry, eager to tell him about his adventure.

**_HPaCT_**

No one knew what was happening, only that something was attacking the castle. The students fled Hogwarts in a mad scramble, only barely contained by the equally panicked teachers. It wasn't until everyone had made their way out to the grounds that things began to regain a modicum of order and sanity. Even this was tinged with fear, as they could still hear the sounds of destruction and see explosions emerging from the school.

Insane rambling about monsters and demons were drowned out by the sound of magically amplified shouts from the teachers. While a number of them were no better off than their terrified students, several teachers had not borne direct witness to the battle, and retained their sanity. Orders and commands were shouted, and gradually, the terrified children began to calm down, and pay attention to their professors.

"Students!" a voice boomed out, and every head turned to face McGonagall. Though her face was pale, she nonetheless did her best to exert authority over the panicking children. "I will not pretend to know what has caused this, but rest assured, we will deal with whatever threat is hiding in Hogwarts. I am sure the Headmaster is already doing his best to contain the situation, and soon, we will be able to re-enter the school!"

She paused, as she and the students glanced apprehensively towards the school, before raising her voice once again.

"Prefects! Gather your students, then report to your heads of house! Make sure that no one has been left behind!"

For a moment, silence fell, as the shaky professor cowed the students. The prefects began commanding the students into some form of order for a head count, and it seemed that the entire debacle was at an end, before one of the first years gasped and pointed at the castle.

Students and professors alike stared in abject shock, as the heavily battered Hogwarts trembled and shook, before slowly beginning to sink, falling down in a slow, but inevitable collapse. As the castle fell, enchantments that had endured for hundreds of years began to fail, triggering a cascade of power as the magic empowering them ran free. A brilliant technicolor display crackled into existence, blazing through the ruins of the pinnacle of British magical learning, consuming everything its path. As the surges died down, the full extent of the devastation became apparent. Not a single structure composing Hogwarts was left untouched, those few that remained standing were gutted, pale shadows of what they had been. The vast majority of Hogwarts was completely demolished, naught but ruins, smoke, and ash.

Silence fell once again, before a sudden burst of magic flared up from the ruins. A number of stones shot up into the air, revealing Headmaster Dumbledore. He looked as devastated as the rest of them, but quickly pulled himself together, assuming control of the situation almost instantly.

"Minerva, did everyone make it out safely?!" Dumbledore demanded, his trademark calm vanished in the wake of this unexpected disaster.

"Heads of Houses! Prefects! Do a head count immediately!" McGonagall commanded, already moving towards her Gryffindors and frantically cataloging each and every one of them.

The rest of the teachers and Prefects moved to do the same, and next few minutes passed in tense silence.

"Hufflepuffs are all here!"

"Ravenclaws accounted for."

"No one missing from Slytherin!"

"Thank goodness. All of Gryffindor is safe as well." Minerva sighed, before her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground.

"Professor!"

"I'm alright!" McGonagall assured her house as the Twins helped her to her feet. "it's just the shock of this setting in. Just let me rest for a moment and I'll be fine."

The twins hesitantly released her, watching carefully as she conjured a chair and took a seat. Dumbledore followed her example, and began to summon a veritable army of chairs, and a massive table at the center of the empty field. he pointed his wand at his throat, and then spoke out in a booming voice.

"Attention students! While we do not currently know what caused this terrible event, rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this, and determine its cause. Fortunately, it seems no one was lost in the collapse. Any injured should go to Madame Pomphrey who will set up a clinic presently."

"Fawkes!" Dumbledore said, and in a flash of light, a magnificent bird appeared on his shoulder. Dumbledore pulled out a scroll of parchment, and quickly scribbled something on it. He drew his wand, and with a few quick swishes, additional copies sprang into existence. He gathered up the letters, and tied them to the crimson avian.

"Take this to the minister immediately, old friend. Deliver the rest to whom they are addressed." the headmaster commanded, before turning to the assembled students. Despite his earlier words, a number of them still were locked in a state of panic. With a sigh, and a brief spell, the voice of the Headmaster echoed across the grounds of the fallen castle. The sheer volume forcing everyone to settle down, at least for the moment, and listen.

"STUDENTS AND STAFF OF HOGWARTS! AS IS SO VERY CLEAR TO ALL OF US, SOMETHIGN TRULY TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED ON THIS NIGHT. HOGWARTS, A BASTION OF LEARNING AND MAGIC, HAS FALLEN TO AN UNKNOWN FORCE. REST ASSURED, WHATEVER HAS PERPETRATED SUCH A MONSTROUS ACT WILL BE FOUND AND HELD ACCOUNTABLE. IN THE MEAN TIME, IT SEEMS WHATEVER CAUSED THIS HAS DEPARTED. I HAVE ALREADY CONTACTED THE MINISTRY, THE AURORS, THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS, AND NUMEROUS OTHER FACTIONS, AND INFORMED THEM OF WHAT HAS TRANSGRESSED HERE."

As if signaled by Dumbledore's speech, a number of wizards and witches began to appear, many of them still dressed in their bedclothes. While a number of them proved too shocked to be of much use at first, they did provide a number of magical tents to shelter the students. While they didn't look all that impressive form the outside, they were far larger than their dimensions suggested, and a few dozen were enough to comfortably house the entire student body, though not nearly as comfortably as the castle did.

That night, no one slept. Teachers and prefects patrolled the hastily erected camp in groups, accompanied by a plethora of aurors and ministry officials, on constant alert for the source of this calamity, and well as worriedly checking that the students were all healthy and accounted for,

Harry sat alone, isolated from his friend and housemates. Despite the fact that nearly everyone else was huddled together for comfort, harry kept himself apart, if only to have a modicum of privacy for what was to come.

He knew what the likely cause of the destruction, and when it came back, it was in for a lecture of epic proportions.

**_"hey harry."_** Rex said, as he crawled into the tent.

'Did you have anything to do with this?' Harry asked, his voice cold and serious.

**_"yeah, but you don't understand! there was something else there too! I had to fight him."_**

Harry felt his anger begin to drain away as Rex explained about the new monster, before eying his partner suspiciously, "You're not making this up, are you?"

**_"i wouldn't lie about something like this!"_** Rex protested.

Harry sighed, before lying back in his sleeping bag, folding his hands under his head, "Then that means someone else here has a monster, and from the looks of it, they aren't likely to be too friendly."

**_"don't worry harry. i can handle anything they can dish out."_** Rex reassured his partner, before crawling into the sleeping bag beside harry.

"I hope you're right Rex." Harry said, watching the faint light heralding the approach of dawn, before drifting off to a restless sleep. He was still angry with his friend, but there was something else to worry about for the moment.


End file.
